Understanding ESD Standard in ATEX Environment: EN 1149 vs EN 16350
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In the world of high explosion industries, static electricity can endanger the safety of people and equipment.?For this reason, it must follow regulations such as ATEX directive. This is to ensure necessary actions applied to prevent ESD-related problems.
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Two key standards that play a significant role in managing ESD in ATEX environments. These standards are EN 1149 and EN 16350. EN 1149 focuses on protective clothing to dissipate static electrical charges. This helps to lower the chance of sparks and fires in areas where there are having flammable materials. Conversely, EN16350 outlines guidelines for evaluating and verifying ESD control on gloves.
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This article will explain why ESD control measures are important in ATEX areas. There is a comparison between EN 1149 and EN 16350 to test ESD products.
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What is ATEX Environment?
ATEX (Explosive Atmospheres) refers to areas where there is a potential risk of explosions. This potential risk may occur due to the presence of flammable gases, vapours, mists, or dust. ATEX areas are commonly found in oil and gas, chemicals, medicine, and manufacturing. There is a risk where sparks or flames might ignite flammable objects. In ATEX zones, regulations and guidelines are designated to protect from explosion risk.
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What is EN 1149?
Generally, EN 1149 is a testing standard to check the electrostatic properties on the protective garment. It has categorized into few sub-standards, including EN 1149-1, EN 1149-2, EN 1149-3 and EN 1149-5.
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EN 1149-1 explains how to test the protective clothing on the surface resistivity. It describes how effective static charge is transferred from point A to B on the garment surface.
EN 1149-2 explains how materials are tested on the static charge volume resistivity. It explains how easy the protective layer to dissipate static charge from outer to inner surface.
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EN 1149-3 explains the test method on how static charge decay on the protective garment. It provides guidelines on the ability of electrostatic charge to dissipate from the clothing surface.
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EN 1149-5 specifies the electrostatic performance on materials and their design requirements. This part of standards set on the combination testing of EN 1149 -1 (surface resistivity) and EN 1149-3 (charge decay). The protective clothing that passes EN 1149-1 and EN 1149-3, a pictogram of lightning bolt inside a shield is applied.
Understanding EN 1149-2 vs EN 16350
Both EN 1149-2 and EN 16350 are identical European testing standards. These standards are focus on the volume resistivity testing of protective clothing.
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EN 1149-2 is specifically designed for protective clothing that exhibits volume resistivity on electrostatic charges.
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EN 16350 is more comprehensive as it is designated to test the volume resistivity of protective gloves. This is to ensure the produced ESD glove are suitable on static risk environment.
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In this testing, it identifies how well the charges can move from the surface to the inner part of gloves. The results are justified by the dissipation of charges build up between the inner gloves and the contact layer.
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To comply EN 16350 standard, the ESD charge results MUST be less than 1 x 10^8 Ohms on the vertical resistance.
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How EN 16350 testing can help ESD Gloves to Apply in ATEX Zone?
EN 16350 testing is crucial for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of ESD gloves in ATEX zone. This standard specifies the requirements for protective gloves against electrostatic discharge. In ATEX zone, static electricity has the potential to generate sparks and ignite flames when explosive gases or dust are present. Since glove is often become the static charge build up point, it is necessary to ensure gloves can dissipate charges.
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Standard chemical gloves are unlikely able to pass EN 16350. These gloves are not capable to dissipate enough the accumulated static charges on glove surface. To achieve good dissipation, special conductive materials are used to incorporate with gloves. These types of conductive materials can be in the form of conductive fibers or as a filler.
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written by Wai Hoong Chan, PhD