The principle of integrated explosion protection requires all measures for explosion protection to be considered in a specific order. The three distinctive protection measures are: primary, secondary and tertiary (construction design-related).

In many industrial sectors, powdered and dust-like products are processed or formed during the production process. 80% of all dusts which are found in industry are combustible, in a closed space, even a layer of dust less than 1 mm is sufficient to trigger an explosion, after dust is stirred up and ignited.

Dust explosions present a particular risk for the food industry, the woodworking industry, the paper and plastics industry and pharmaceutical industries. The observations above are confirmed by German property insurers. According to the latter, an average of one dust explosion per day occurs in Germany, wherein around every fourth explosion is caused by food or animal feed dusts.

As with combustible fluids and the explosive gas-air mixtures that are formed by these, so too must certain conditions exist for combustible dusts in order to ensure that a dust-air mixture is not ignited by a suitable source of ignition and thus an explosion triggered as a result.

However, in comparison to gas explosions, dust explosions take a different course and, under certain circumstances, can have significantly more serious consequences. This is because the resulting wave of pressure causes further layers of dust to be stirred up, which then in turn ignite. This process continues and, in unfavourable circumstances, these type of chain reactions move through all parts of the plants or even through an entire building, destroying it.

Most companies are aware of the topic of gas explosion protection, whereas not many are informed about dust explosion protection. At R. STAHL, we treat dust explosion protection and gas explosion protection with equal importance. We help you to assess the risk of a dust explosion in your plants and to take the necessary technical measures to minimise this risk.

R. STAHL provides you with a full certified range of products for potentially explosive dust atmospheres and can develop a customer-specific solution together with you for virtually any application. Take advantage of our extensive specialist knowledge in preventing dust explosions and use it to protect your people, plant and machinery.

We provide further information related to the topic of dust as a risk factor as well as technical safety parameters (including grain size, explosion limits, minimum ignition energy, glow temperature), types of protection, legislative mandates and suitable protection measures in our "Essential Explosion Protection" brochure.

Automation technology systems are increasingly taking over safety-relevant tasks in processes which represent a risk for people and the environment. In the event of an incident, they intervene in the process and can reduce the risk of a hazardous situation occurring. The functional safety of a plant is safeguarded if every safety function is executed in accordance with specifications. Here, the SIL (Safety Integrity Level) unit of measurementquantifies the risk reduction of a safety-relatedsystem in four separate levels.

Since August 2002, the IEC/EN 61508 standard has comprehensively defined the safety requirements in automation technology and primarily addresses the manufacturers of components for protective equipment. The IEC 61511 standard "Functional safety – Safety instrumented systems for the process industry sector" addresses the operators and designers of protective equipment. It provides recommendations and specifications on assessing the damage risk of plants and helps in selecting suitable, safety-related components.

SIL is the abbreviation for "Safety Integrity Level" and is defined as a measurement of the safety-related performance or reliability of an electronic or electrical control device.

Functional safety is often applied in plants with potentially explosive atmospheres. In accordance with the requirements of the IEC/EN 61508 standard, appropriate protection systems are therefore essential. R. STAHL recognised this link early on, and has the necessary specialist knowledge in this area. We offer you support and advice on the risk assessment, the implementation of measures for risk reduction and the assessment of the functional safety of your plant. In addition to our explosion-protected equipment, we also offer specific components and systems for functional safety.