Explosive atmospheres - Part 46: Equipment assemblies

This part of IEC 60079, which is a technical specification, specifies requirements for the design, construction, assembly, testing, inspection, marking, documenting and assessment of equipment assemblies for use in explosive atmospheres under the responsibility of the manufacturer of the equipment assembly.

The requirements of this document apply to individual items according to the IEC 60079 series or ISO 80079 series that comprise the assembly and that have individual certificates. These individual items are then integrated as part of the equipment assembly. Also included are requirements to address aspects for the assembly which may be beyond the certificates of the individual items forming the assembly.

The scope of this document includes assessment of the additional requirements for assemblies for hazardous areas and does not include requirements for non-hazardous areas. It is assumed that compliance with other electrical or mechanical requirements that are applicable for non-hazardous areas will be verified by either the same or different party in addition to the requirements of this document.

This document does not apply to:

– equipment which is covered, in its entirety, by one or more IEC 60079 and ISO 80079 equipment types of protection;
– pressurized rooms, p, in accordance with IEC 60079-13, artificial ventilation for the protection of analyzer(s) houses in accordance with IEC TR 60079-16, and other standards addressing specific Ex assemblies;
– installation at the end-user site under the scope of IEC 60079-14;
– classification of the hazardous area;
– equipment assemblies for mines susceptible to firedamp (Group I applications);
– inherently explosive situations and dust from explosives or pyrophoric substances (for example explosives manufacturing and processing);
– rooms used for medical purposes;
– electrical installations in areas where the hazard is due to flammable mist.

The specification is only intended to provide validation for the initial supply of an assembly.

NOTE 1 Additional guidance on the requirements for hazards due to hybrid mixtures of dust or flyings and flammable gas or vapour is provided in IEC 60079-14.

Where a requirement of this document conflicts with a requirement of either IEC 60079-0 or ISO 80079-36, the requirement of this document takes precedence.

NOTE 2 For this first edition, the only requirements of this document that take precedence over IEC 60079-0 or ISO 80079-36 are the markings for equipment assemblies.