Free software developed to help with ATEX and DSEAR design and verification

A range of free software has been developed by ExVeritas to assist people involved in the design or verification of ATEX and IEC products or sites with explosive atmospheres. The software runs ‘on line’ or can be downloaded as a desktop application under Windows.

The software will also run as an iPhone/iTouch Web Application. Currently the software includes:

FlamCal
ATEX and IEC Flammable Properties Application: This application allows the user to select from several hundred common flammable substances to determine the physical properties that may be required for ATEX or IEC equipment selection or area classification. You would need 30+ A2 ATEX Posters to hold this much information!

IntrinsiCal
ATEX and IEC Intrinsic Safety Circuit Evaluation Application: This application gives an indication of the maximum safe voltage, current, capacitance and inductance to use when designing a circuit to be energy limited or Intrinsically Safe

MESGCal
ATEX and IEC Flameproof Design Application: This application is designed to provide a designer or an inspector with an indication of the correct maximum safe gap for any selected Flamepath type.

Further applications will follow, including tools for area classification, SIL and risk assessment. The software can be run on line or downloaded from www.exveritas.com

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Reduce the risk of system migrations

An integrator experienced in quick wiring adapter tools can provide time- and cost-savings, and thus reduce downtime and risk.

Step 1 – Observe all safety rules and turn off all power sources to the rack and legacy I/O modules. Remove all electrical power from the rack and all non-I/O modules

Migration step by step
Photos depict a stepped process of migrating from a legacy I/O module to a new I/O module. (The legacy module in this case is the Schneider Electric SY/Max I/O; the new module is the Schneider Electric Quantom I/O.)
Industrial facility managers understand the need for progress. Continually updating programmable logic control (PLC) systems can help facilities be more efficient, accommodate evolving needs, and better meet customer requests and deadlines. But an upgrade project is also one fraught with risk when it gets underway, and even after it is complete.

Step 2 – Remove all terminal blocks from legacy I/O modules

One of the main reasons is downtime. When it comes to a project like migrating a PLC system to newer, more robust components, facility managers envision an extensive period of planned downtime, often while a system integrator completes the job of component change-outs and rewiring. But also looming are concerns about unplanned downtime after the project is complete.
Accommodating for associated downtime requires meticulous planning and facility-wide co-operation. Facility managers typically plan ahead by increasing stock and production levels or re-routing processes. Another way to mitigate the risk of migration-related downtime is to carefully choose your system integrator.
Facility managers can avoid problems in both the short- and long-term by doing their homework. That means taking the time to extensively qualify system integrators with regard to the individual tools and industry partnerships they use. Such support plays a large role in quickly and efficiently completing system migration project and ensuring no unplanned downtime afterwards. An integrator with extensive experience with solutions like quick wiring adapter tools, for example, can allow re-use of the original wiring for a new I/O module.

Step 3 – Remove all legacy I/O modules from the rack, and then the rack itself

Rewiring needs and planning can be a major contributor to scheduled downtime associated with system migration projects, and related costs. Traditionally, transitioning between old and new I/O modules requires a significant amount of time to be spent on rewiring. On average, it takes approximately six hours to rewire a single rack. For systems with numerous racks, that time can quickly accumulate to weeks.
Additionally, extensive rewiring increases the chance for safety hazards and mistakes. During a complicated rewiring process, a single error by an integrator can result in extensive troubleshooting later to locate the problem. Other negative impacts of incorrect manual rewiring include system failure and even unintended equipment operation, which poses a real safety risk for anyone near a piece of equipment when it activates.

Step 4 – Install the adapter plate kit, which allows installation of the new I/O modules’ backplane without having to drill into the enclosure subpanel

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How to use MULTIMETER (Basic Knowledge for Electrician or Automation)

Below is videos talking about how to use Multimeter. It’s very important even if only basic but always use this tools during we do commissioning or test the circuit. How to use it? Please watch videos below.

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Earthquakes and electrical equipment

Summary

In all countries there is either a zone of significant seismic activity or installations which require high security in order to operate (e.g. nuclear power stations, which generally have low seismic activity). In both cases the electrical and control and monitoring equipment must assure their safety functions correctly.
This technical paper aims to facilitate dialogue between operators and specialists. After briefly summarizing the earthquake phenomena and the way in which they are specified, the author presents the theoretic approach required for seismic withstand capabilities to be taken into account at the design stage.
Both design and qualification are, today, increasingly requiring numerical analysis and, as a result, powerful scientific and technical data processing methods.

Reference

• – Author :Eric Melmoux
• – Publication date:01/04/1997
• – Page number:28
• – ECT no:180

> Download

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Electrical and environnemental constraints

EMC: electromagnetic compatibility

Summary

For all electrotechnical equipment, EMC must be considered right from the initial design phase and the variousprinciples and rules carried on through to manufacture and installation.
This means that all those involved, from the engineers and architects that design a building to the technicians that wire the electrical cabinets, including the specialists that design the various building networks and the crews that install them, must be concerned with EMC – a discipline aimed at achieving the “peaceful” coexistence of equipment sensitive to electromagnetic disturbances alongside equipment emitting such disturbances.
This publication is a compilation of many years of acquired experience at Merlin Gerin and presents various disturbances encountered and provides some practical remedies.

Reference

• – Author :Jacques Delaballe
• – Publication date:01/12/2001
• – Page number:36
• – ECT no:149

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Enclosures and degrees of protection

Summary

The protection of persons against direct contacts is required by certain regulations (in France the Decret of the 14th of November 1988), and specified by electrical installation standards, such as IEC 364. On the other hand, types of external stresses likely to influence the behaviour of equipment are described in IEC 721-2. The protection against some of these influences is often specified in product standards.
Therefore, to explain the degrees of protection that enclosures can provide, and how standards codify them, constitutes an essential information for all, prescribers, installers, operators and inspecting organizations, the purpose of this “Cahier Technique”. It replaces “Cahier Technique”
No 6 written in 1982, made obsolete by the revision of IEC 529. 

Reference

• – Author :Jean Pasteau
• – Publication date:01/01/1993
• – Page number:12
• – ECT no:166

> Download

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Know How: General Knowledge

Electronic starters and variable speed drives

Summary

The most common way of starting asynchronous motors is directly on the
line supply. This technique is often suitable for a wide variety of machines.
However, it sometimes brings with it restrictions that can be inconvenient
for some applications, and even incompatible with the functions required
from the machine:
– The inrush current on start-up can interfere with the operation of other
devices connected on the same line supply
– Mechanical shocks during starting that cannot be tolerated by the
machine or may endanger the comfort and safety ofusers
– Acceleration and deceleration cannot be controlled
– Speed cannot be controlled
Starters and variable speed drives are able to counter these problems.
Electronic technology has made them more flexible and has extended their
field of application. However, it is still important to make the right choice.
The purpose of this “Cahier Technique” is to provide more extensive
information about these devices in order to make it easier to define them
when designing equipment or when improving or even replacing a motor
switchgear assembly for control and protection.

Reference

• – Author :Daniel Clénet
• – Publication date:01/11/2003
• – Page number:28
• – ECT no:208

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Data acquisition: Detection

Summary

In an automated installation, all the information needed to control it must be detected in order to be managed by the control systems.
The “detection” function is therefore essential in all industrial processes, and a knowledge of the various techniques is vital to choose the right detectors: they have to be able to operate in sometimes difficult environments and supply information that is compatible with the acquisition and processing systems.
This document is aimed at those wanting to familiarize themselves with the field of Detection in Industrial Automation.
After setting out the broad technical background to this field, each technology is analyzed in detail to provide a basic selection guide. This is complemented by an overview of related technologies, including Vision and RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification).
Detection may seem complicated at first, but you will soon learn that it is simply “varied”!
Happy reading!

Reference

• – Author :Philippe Hampikian and his team
• – Publication date:01/09/2005
• – Page number:40
• – ECT no:209

> Download

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