If you are dealing with explosion-hazardous environments, the ATEX directive is not unfamiliar to you. This European directive provides a harmonized safety standard for these environments in all European member states. Handy, but our daily practice shows that questions often arise about placing or integrating products in a line or machine, in our case a planetary gearbox, in an explosion-hazardous environment. With this article we will deal with this uncertainty once and for all and give a definitive answer to the question: Can I use an Apex Dynamics planetary gearbox in a production line or machine that operates in an environment that falls under ATEX regulations??
What are the ATEX regulations about?
For the sake of completeness, we will first discuss what exactly an ATEX (ATmoss spheres EXplosibles) environment. These are environments in which there is an explosive, flammable atmosphere where gases, vapours or dust can be found. Examples of such environments are printing plants, food production, wood or other organic processing, car spray booths and last but not least the petrochemical industry. The two ATEX standards, ATEX 95 (94/9/EC) and ATEX 137 (99/92/EC), discuss the equipment used and user safety respectively. The latest version of this directive (ATEX 2014/34/EU) was published by the European Parliament in March last year and has been mandatory throughout the EU since 20 April 2016.
Go here to our download page, also for the ATEX certificates…