ATEX Directive – The User’s Guide
This user’s guide by Brook Crompton provides essential insights into the ATEX Directive, including regulatory compliance for rotating electrical machines used in hazardous environments. It outlines motor marking conventions, safety classifications, and documentation requirements, offering clarity for manufacturers, engineers, and end-users operating in explosive atmospheres.
Key Points
- Comprehensive Overview of ATEX: Explains the purpose and scope of the ATEX Directive (94/9/EC), affecting equipment for explosive atmospheres.
- Motor Markings Explained: Details EC Mark, CE certification, and specific explosion protection codes (e.g., EEx de IIC T4).
- Category Relevance: Shows how equipment categories (1, 2, 3) correlate with environmental zones.
- Importance of Documentation: Emphasizes the requirement for installation and maintenance documentation for ATEX approval.
- Directive Compatibility: Highlights how ATEX complements the Machinery Directive, Low Voltage Directive (LVD), and EMC Directive.
- Temperature & Zone Classification: Covers classification systems including zones 0-2 for gases and 20-22 for dust, and temperature classes T1 to T6.
- Brook Crompton’s Compliance: Confirms full compliance with ATEX for EEx nA, EEx e, and dust hazard motors, with development for EEx d.
- Certifying Bodies & Quality Control: Explains the role of notified bodies (e.g., EECS/BASEEFA) in conformity assessments and standard enforcement.