Hazardous Area Enclosures Facilitate Plant Standards for Wireless Access Points

Hazardous area enclosures for wireless access point.
(Analynk)

There are often conflicts between what is needed and what is desired in many technical endeavors, and the field of industrial process control is no exception. Such a conflict between process engineers and IT managers was created by the incursion and popularity of wireless communication into the field of process measurement and control. It is, of course, a cooperative and friendly conflict, but a condition which may require some incompatible interests to be resolved.

For a number of reasons, compliance with certain norms set for the organization's wider scope and standards is advantageous for the wireless network equipment. Standardization on specific brands or hardware types can have true advantages. The tasks associated with network infrastructure back end management are less complicated when all equipment belongs to the same producer and family of products. Provisioning, which includes initial set-up, long-term management and management of unit losses, is simplified when all units are identical. The same objective is pursued by process technicians and operators in standardizing specific transmitters, valves or other parts that have various facilities throughout a plant.

The problem occurs when the access point selected by the IT team, with all the latest standards, needs to be installed in a part of the plant categorized as hazardous (owing to the potential for flammable or explosive gases, vapors or dusts that can be ignited). There is a solution, actually a fairly simple one. Use a non-hazardous area access point (as specified or designated by the IT department) and installing it inside an access point enclosure designed for hazardous areas.

Analynk Wireless manufactures enclosures for industrial wireless access points installed in hazardous locations.  Each access point enclosure is provided with agency approved enclosures, antennas, mounting, penetrations, cabling, and power supplies. Their current product offering accommodates a wide range of wireless access point manufacturers including Symbol, Cisco, Meru, Aruba, HP, and Motorola.  Access point and Wi-Fi technology technologies change rapidly. Wireless component lifecycles are relatively short compared to other process equipment. The use of hazardous area access point enclosures provide flexibility and convenience in access point selection and upgrades.

For more information, contact Analynk Wireless by visiting https://analynk.com or by calling 614-755-5091.

Protecting Wireless Infrastructure in Potentially Explosive Environments

"Built to Blast: Industrial Internet of Things Infrastructure for Hazardous Environments" 

by Aruba Networks. Full text white paper can be downloaded here.

Many chemical, defense, flight line, food processing, fueling, mining, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical applications require high-performance Wi-Fi access in potentially explosive environments. Whether for device telemetry, network access, site-to-site connectivity, or unified communications, these applications require the highest available Wi-Fi performance in the harshest of environments.

Wi-Fi access points can be designed to operate directly in explosive environments without an additional protective enclosure, or they can be designed for use in non-explosive environments and operated inside of an enclosure rated for the application. The former approach is cost-effective when the underlying technology driving the equipment is established, stable, and unlikely to need an upgrade for years; IoT speed, position, pressure, and temperature sensors fall into that category.

The latter approach – using an external enclosure – is the most practical if the underlying wireless technology is changing rapidly. That’s because the cost of purchasing and installing an explosion-proof enclosure can represent from 4 to 20 times the cost of the access point the enclosure is designed to protect. It’s substantially less expensive to swap out the access point, leaving the protective enclosure untouched, than to install a completely new enclosure with every technology upgrade.

In less than ten years the Wi-Fi industry has moved from 802.11n to 802.11ac Wave 1 to 802.11ac Wave 2. Just as no customer would buy a new truck based on a 10 year old design, neither would they consider deploying 802.11n access points based on technology from 2007. At a minimum they would use 802.11ac Wave 1, especially in industrial environments, because of 802.11ac’s outstanding multipath performance in the presence of metal.

Using typical amortization rates a customer that wants to stay abreast of the latest Wi-Fi technology would update equipment roughly once every four years. If we assume that an access point designed for uncontrolled outdoor environments with wide temperature range operation has a List price of $1,500, the associated Class 1 Division 2 enclosure Lists for $3,500, and the installation of just the enclosure (excluding access point set-up and commissioning) costs $2,500, then customers will save $4,500 with every turn of access point technology if the enclosure is retained.

For more information about hazardous area wireless access point enclosures, contact Analynk by calling (614) 755-5091 or visit their website at https://analynk.com.

Regulations and Standards for Equipment Operating in Explosive Atmospheres

Reprinted from "Built to Blast: Industrial Internet of Things Infrastructure for Hazardous Environments" by Aruba Networks.  Full text white paper can be downloaded here.

A potentially explosive atmosphere exists when air gas, vapor, mist, or dust – alone or in combination – are present under circumstances in which it or they can ignite under specified operating conditions. Places with potentially explosive atmospheres are called “hazardous” or “classified” areas or locations.

Multiple local and international regulations are in place to mitigate the risk posted by operating networks and IoT devices in potentially explosive atmospheres. Increasingly these regulations are becoming harmonized under a framework developed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and European and US standards.

ATEX Directives

ATEX, derived from the French phrase “Atmosphères Explosibles,” is a European regulatory framework for the manufacture, installation, and use of equipment in explosive atmospheres. It consists of two European Union (EU) directives:

• 1999/92/EC which defines the minimum safety requirements for workers in hazardous areas; and
• 2014/34/EU which covers equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.

These two directives define the essential health and safety requirements, as well as the conformity assessment procedures, that need to be applied before products can be used in the EU market.

IEC Ex System (IECEx)

IECEx is a voluntary certification program that validates compliance with IEC standards related to safety in explosive atmospheres. Details about IECEx, its coverage areas, and conformity mark system can be found at www.iecex.com.

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC)

CENELEC was formed to facilitate a consensus-building process between European and international electrical standards activities. In 1996 CENELEC and the IEC formalized a framework of cooperation through an agreement on common standards planning and parallel voting that is known as the Dresden Agreement. As a result of this initiative both CENELEC and IEC have similar standards for explosive environments.

National Electrical Code (NEC)

NEC defines the standards for the safe installation of electrical wiring and equipment in the United States, and its standards are coordinated with those of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). NFPA 70 Articles 500 thru 510 address safe practices for the location and operation of electrical equipment in hazardous locations installations.
Additional national standards relating to hazardous environments may be in effect in different countries, however, there has been a concerted effort in recent years to harmonize local standards with the standards referenced above.

About Analynk

Analynk, LLC manufacturers hazardous area wireless access points. More information on their products can be found here.
https://analynk.com
614-755-5091

IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) Wireless Networking Considerations in Hazardous Environments

BUILT TO BLAST
Industrial Internet of Things Infrastructure for
Hazardous Environments

Industry groups and standards bodies have collaborated to address these issues by classifying explosive materials and defining standards under which networking equipment and Internet of Things (IoT) devices can be safely operated in their presence. The work has been conducted by different organizations, in different regions, and it can be challenging to understand which standards are applicable under different scenarios.

This white paper examines the different categories of explosive risks, which standards to apply under different scenarios, how network infrastructure can be deployed in explosive environments, and how sensor systems can be integrated with this infrastructure. The goal is to enable end customers and resellers to select the network infrastructure, enclosures, and associated systems that are best suited to each scenario.

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GET YOUR COPY OF THIS WHITE PAPER AT THE ANALYNK WEBSITE HERE

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Atmosphere is the annual Aruba meeting and convention for innovators in the field of networking, security, IoT, mobility and the cloud. Atmosphere provides attendees an opportunity to meet and rub shoulders with over 3000 peers to learn, collaborate and influence the direction of Aruba products, all with the common goal to build the industry’s best enterprise-class technologies in wireless & wired infrastructure and software, security, location services, and analytics & assurance.

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