Quick, easy and reliable preventative maintenance equipment designed to keep manufacturing running
A consistent and thorough maintenance schedule within food processing plants is vital to ensuring the scale and pressure of demand is met. Unexpected downtime comes at a huge cost. This industry covers a diverse array of substances, and some present a great challenge: dust. Whilst a large proportion of preventative maintenance doesn’ t pose a risk, the threat of dust explosions caused by electronic maintenance equipment raises serious concerns. Cygnus has practical and easy to use solutions for all environments.
Maintenance in areas with potentially explosive dust
Dust explosions are often catastrophic, causing irreversible damage and, sadly, human fatalities. When an ignition source, such as electrical or thermal equipment, enters a space where there is a high concentration of dust in the air, typically in a confined building or vessel, extreme heat increases pressure in the space and causes an explosion. Records show that almost every industry has fallen victim to dust explosions, even in recent years.
Most industries which store, handle and process materials and substances produce dust.
The food processing industry is perhaps one of the biggest. Sugar and flour processing are huge industries, but so are grains or anything that usually comes in a powdered form, such as instant coffee, custard and soup, to name a few.
How can Cygnus 1 Ex help?
There are many ignition sources that may be brought into these areas for various reasons, and one of these is ultrasonic testing equipment designed to carry out essential maintenance checks on processing machinery. Whilst maintenance is vital to the safety
30 FDPP- www. fdpp. co. uk of these areas, even contributing to prevention of dust clouds by preventing leakage, the maintenance equipment itself needs to be safe to handle in these hazardous environments.
The Cygnus 1 Ex is certified safe to use in locations where there is a risk of fire or explosion, due to the presence of ignitable or flammable substances in the air at concentrations high enough to produce an ignitable mixture. This includes gases, vapours, and in this case, dust.
This is because Cygnus 1 Ex is Intrinsically Safe. For any equipment like Cygnus 1 Ex that contains electronic components such as batteries, intrinsic safety technology limits the energy present in a system, meaning no arc or spark can be generated, and no component can heat up enough to ignite a hazardous atmosphere under any conditions. This applies under both normal use and with applied fault conditions, at low power levels, and low stored energy.
‘ Intrinsically Safe’ is an Ex Protection Concept, used to determine which areas of a facility(‘ zones’) the equipment is suitable for. The term‘ Ex’ is recognised globally when referring to explosive atmospheres and the schemes used to prevent explosions. In both IECEx, ATEX and North American systems, intrinsically safe equipment can be used in any Zone or Division with the correct equipment protection level.
Cygnus 1 Ex is certified to all hazardous gas Zones( 0, 1, 2). For dust, it is certified to Zones 21 and 22. Zone 21 identifies areas where combustible dust is occasionally present. Zone 22 identifies areas where combustible dust is not usually present but could be for short periods.
More first-class Cygnus 1 Ex features
The Cygnus 1 Ex ultrasonic thickness gauge, reviewed as“ versatile, multifunctional, robust and intuitive” by our customers, is an intrinsically-safe gauge providing first-class user control and flexibility, eliminating the need for plant shutdown or a Hot Work permit. Equipped with 3 measuring modes and a selection of probes, the gauge is capable of measuring a range of materials and metals with severe corrosion or protective coatings up to 20mm thick. This saves considerable time and money removing coatings!
The great news for advanced users is that the Manual Measurement Mode ensures measurement in trickier areas like heavy corrosion is easier and more accurate thanks to more versatile settings.
Non-hazardous preventative maintenance
Cygnus 4 + ultrasonic thickness gauge is one of the more advanced models of the Cygnus Surface Range. These lightweight, compact, hands-free gauges are specifically built for inspecting possible corrosion in a variety of challenging environments. A choice of twin-crystal and rightangle probes increases flexibility for access to tight, awkward spaces, and Cygnus’ Multiple- Echo technology eliminates the time and cost of removing anticorrosive coatings by measuring through coatings up to 20mm thick.
To learn more, please visit cygnusinstruments. com.
Alternatively, scan the QR code and get a quote using code‘ FDPP25’ for £ 200 off your gauge purchase.