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Explosions are a serious risk in any industrial setting, and compliance with dust explosion regulations is an important part of your health and safety risk assessment.
Transitions between machinery are a common focus area in terms of explosion risk, that's why your choice of flexible connector is extremely important.
Non-metal transitions between machinery where there is product flow, such as flexible connections, also present an ignition risk due to static electricity, which can build up and lead to spark discharges.
Adequate grounding procedures above and below your flexible connections, along with the use of static dissipative materials, like BFM® fitting’s Seeflex range of urethanes, are highly recommended to help reduce the risk of spark discharges occurring in the first place.
If a spark does occur for any reason, it’s important to contain any initial explosion within the machinery itself to ensure you reduce the risk of secondary explosions and injury to staff.
Learn more about the risk of electrostatic build-up in your process.
The weakest point for the potential escape of these explosive flames and gases is often at the transitions, between machinery.
Traditional hose-clamped flexible connectors tend to give-way quickly allowing the explosion to propagate, potentially leading to a deadly secondary explosion.
Choosing a strong, dust-proof and explosion resistant connector like the BFM® fitting is fundamental to both preventing and containing any explosions that might occur within a process line.
Polyurethane and silicon connectors fastened with hose clips failed with a peak over-pressure of just 43.1kpa (6.25psi).
Seeflex 040E withstands peak over-pressures in excess of 60kpa (8.7psi).
Teflex Woven withstands peak over-pressures in excess of 58kpa (8.4psi).
A Kevlar Cover is fitted over the top of a BFM® fitting connector and can withstand over-pressures in excess of 100kpa (14.5psi).
We have over 50 Distributors around the world ready to assist you now.
International safety regulations like ATEX and IECEx can require that any electrical equipment within a certain radius of a flexible connection needs to be ‘rated’ to comply with that regulation’s standards - which can be expensive.
A number of BFM® fitting customers have addressed this challenge by installing a double layer of BFM® fittings on potential high-risk transitions. If the inner connector was to fail for any reason, the outer connector would immediately contain any dust from escaping into the rest of the factory.
This effectively means the ATEX safety risk zone is now just the space in-between the two connectors, thus reducing the entire outer factory environment’s ATEX zoning risk.
This simple solution has saved these customers thousands in electrical equipment costs as they weren’t required to install the higher-specification (and higher priced) ATEX-rated equipment.
BFM®’s Seeflex range of connectors are already approved for use in ATEX explosion zones, and this additional option is an excellent way to maximise the benefits of your investment in a BFM® fitting system.
AMEDICA is the only medical technology company in the world that has FDA clearance to use medical grade silicon nitride ceramic powder to manufacture revolutionary spinal implants. This requires an extremely high level of hygiene. When processed, however, this fine-as-talc powder infiltrated processing equipment connections and created a consistently powdery atmosphere, threatening the health of AMEDICA’s employees.
BFM® fitting is transforming processing plants globally. Keep updated on news, products, insights and new product developments.
