Aston Dane blog

Official Opening of Coca-Cola Plant Sets New Standards For Sustainable Manufacturing

noreply@blogger.com (David West) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:31:00 +0000

Belfast, 8th September 2010. The official launch of a £93.5m manufacturing facility in Lisburn, Northern Ireland was celebrated by Ministers of State, local dignitaries, senior executives of Coca-Cola and partners involved in the construction of the state of the art site.
A key feature of the 50,000 sq metre facility at Knockmore Hill, which has capability to produce 1.5 million litres/ day, is the Combined Heat & Power plant, supplied and operated by ContourGlobal, currently the only ‘quad generation’ plant in the UK & Ireland, providing highly efficient, clean electricity, heat, CO2 and chilled water needed for the company’s soft drink production. The facility also provides export of electricity to the national grid for consumer usage.
Aston Dane were responsible, through main contractor Clarke Energy, to design and supply the supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA), which allows efficient operation management of the combined services and facilitates data export for client billing, the motor control centre panels and system communications network infrastructure to enable remote monitoring and support by ContourGlobal corporate headquarters.
The facility supports Coca-Cola commitment to sustainable business practices, reducing their carbon footprint and improving efficiency.

CHP Quad Gen Plant at Knockmore Hill

NEW HAZARDOUS EQUIPMENT GROUPING FOR DUST

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:11:00 +0000

NEW DUST EQUIPMENT GROUP III
Ref: BS EN 60079-0:2009 4.3

Electrical equipment for use in potential dust atmospheres are now classified as Group III equipment as follows:-

Dust Group	Nature
IIIA	Combustible fibres and flyings
IIIB	Combustible dusts (non conductive)
IIIC	Combustible conductive dusts

Group III dust equipment is marked as follows:

- III 1 D or III Da for Group III, Category 1, combustible dusts, assumed either A, B, or C

- IIIA Da for Group IIIA, Category 1, combustible dust (fibres and flyings)

- IIIB Db for Group IIIB, Category 2, combustible dust

- IIIC Dc for Group IIIC, Category 3, combustible conductive dust

Note: Dust groups IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC can presently be used with either Da, Db, or Dc which defines the category of 1, 2, or 3 respectively.

THE 61508 ASSOCIATION

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:34:00 +0000

The 61508 Association is a cross-industry group or organizations with an interest in achieving a dependable and cost-effective method for demonstrating compliance with IEC 61508 and related standards.

The purpose of The 61508 Association is to serve the interests of the members through promoting use of IEC 61508 and related standards and helping them to fulfill their functional safety responsibilities in the most cost effective manner.
Members demonstrate compliance with IEC 61508 and related standards by using a method which has integrity, transparency and consistency.

Aston Dane is a member of the association and is actively involved in discussions and technical committees related to the subject.

The next meeting of the 61508 Association will be held at British Energy Heysham on Thurs 17th June 2010.

For more information about The 61508 Association please visit www.61508.org

NEW ATEX EQUIPMENT PROTECTION LEVELS

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:26:00 +0000

Ref: BS EN 60079-0:2009 Annex ZY

Three Equipment Protection Levels are specified. This is the level of protection assigned to equipment based on its risk of becoming a source of ignition, and distinguishing the differences between explosive gas atmospheres, and explosive dust atmospheres, which can occur in a number of industrial process operations, and the explosive atmospheres which may exist in coal mines (EPL Ma ans Mb for mines not covered here).

Equipment Protection Level	Normal Applicable Zone(s)
G a	0 (and 1 and 2)
G b	1 (and 2)
G c	2

For dust hazards, the equipment protection level’s are as follows:

Equipment Protection Level	Normal Applicable Zone(s)
D a	20 (and 21 and 22)
D b	21 (and 22)
D c	22

See ATEX Quick Ref Card for how these translate for specific equipment protection:

(note currently no EPL levels have been assigned to Non-electrical equipment)

To date we are yet to see any of these markings appearing on equipment, but when they do they will give an immediate indication of the zone to which the equipment is suitable.

ATEX QUICK REFERENCE CARD

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:08:00 +0000

Aston Dane has prepared a useful ATEX quick reference card download, covering Gas groupings, Zones and Categories, Ingress Protection Codes and Apparatus Marking.

The card which has all the current information available has proven very popular with our training delegates and is now available free.

Download the ATEX quick reference card