What is a Hazardous Area?
A hazardous area can be defined as any place in which an explosive atmosphere may occur. The reasons of why hazardous areas exist mainly include flammable gases or combustible dust. If adequate amount of flammable substance is mixed with oxygen, an ignition source appears that is sufficient to cause an explosion. Explosions caused can lead to serious injuries, extensive damage as well as loss of life. Presently there are many industrial facilities with hazardous areas, such as petrochemical refineries, chemical plants, and certain kinds of coal mines.
How can Hazardous Area Lighting Help?
Various equipment is used and measures taken by different organizations over a period of time to prevent explosions in a hazardous area, such as, Intrinsic Safety measure, Increased Safety measure, and Explosion-Proof Enclosures measure to ensure safety of employees working in hazardous areas. However, the equipment that has really proved helpful in fighting the explosive atmospheres from the start includes hazardous area lighting.
Hazardous area/ location lighting is a type of lighting that is designed to be resistant to hostile climatic and atmospheric conditions. There are many types of hazardous location lighting that have been used over a period of time in hazardous environments, such as LED Lighting, Fluorescent, and Induction. However, advances in technology have brought about many changes and improvements in lighting technology for hazardous locations. Let’s have a look at how these changes developed.
Developments in Hazardous Area Lighting
The first ever hazardous location lighting was developed in the coal mining industry. In the early 1800’s many different inventors, such as Dr. William R. Clanny, and Sir Humphrey Davy, developed means of shielding miners from explosions caused by the lamps they carried. The most commonly used light of these was the “Davy lamp”, developed by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1815. However, soon after, electric lighting was introduced which is similar to what exists even today. Within the petrochemical industries the initial electric light sources that were used were incandescent lamps in explosion-proof housings.
After that as the technology further developed, HD fixtures were introduced into hazardous areas in the year 1940. Also, the developments in LED technology started taking place in the early 20th century. Since then the lighting technology has now advanced to its present state of using abundant of proven safety techniques and most available light source technologies. In the past few years developments in solid state lighting have also added a new source for general lighting applications.
Hazardous Area Lightings Suppliers
There are a number of electrical companies manufacturing or supplying safe lightings for explosive environments. Listed below are some of the universally recognized brands, which can surely help you out if you are highly concerned about the quality of the lightings to be used for hazardous locations.
- Cooper Industries
- Petrel Limited
- Hadar Lighting
- Eutex International
- Victor Lighting
- Grainger
Know the Author – Dani Kate is a well versed blogger, environmentalist and loves to write around industrial, manufacturing niche. She likes to use her blogging skills to bring awareness around green and clean environment and human safety issues.