Logismarket, the Industrial Directory.

Pyroban Group has been at the forefront of flame-proofing technology for over thirty-two years. The company currently designs, produces, and fits, a wide range of products that reduce the risk of mobile plant and equipment causing fires and explosions when working in potentially hazardous environments.

Diesel and Electrical industrial vehicles are widely used at factories and sites where flammable liquids, gases and dusts are processed or stored.

Such processes include the production of solvents, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, gas cylinder and aerosol filling and the manufacture of solvent based products such as paints, plastics, perfumes and cosmetics.

Pyroban users include; BP Chemicals, Calor Gas, DuPont, ICI, Kodak, Ministry of Defence, Pepsi Cola, Shell and GlaxoSmithKline.

Explosive atmospheres may be present either as the result of an incident, or during normal process, and may be ignited by industrial vehicles due to hot surfaces or sparks from, for example, engines or electrical equipment.

There are two complementary European directives relating to Potentially Explosive atmospheres: ATEX 100a (94/9/EC) applies to equipment manufacturers, and ATEX 137 (99/92/EC) to its users. Compliance with both will become fully mandatory on 1 July 2006.

ATEX 100a categorises equipment into three groups for non-mining applications, according to the level of protection employed:

• Category 1 – Very high level of protection
• Category 2 – High level of protection
• Category 3 – Normal level of protection

These groups correspond to the three zones into which ATEX 137 divides areas in which an explosive atmosphere may occur. The zones are classified as follows:

• Zone 0 – A place where an explosive atmosphere is present continuously, or for long periods, or frequently
• Zone 1 – A place where an explosive atmosphere is likely to occur in normal operation occasionally
• Zone 2 – A place where an explosive atmosphere is not likely to occur in normal operation but, if it does occur, will persist for a short period only

Flameproofing Solutions
For Zone 1 applications Pyroban offer the Euromech system for Diesel powered vehicles and Ex-tec system for electric vehicles. For Zone 2 application Pyroban offer System 5000 D and E for diesel and battery electric vehicles. System 5000 D can be installed onto a diesel powered vehicle and is particularly significant development as it embodies a new approach to the protection of diesel powered equipment for Zone 2 areas. System 5000 E can be installed onto a electric vehicle. Features and benefits such as rapid system startup, minimum infringement on manufacturers design, performance, maintenance or service specifications, reliability and serviceability, plus the systems ergonomic design ensure that both System 5000 D and System 5000 E provide a simple to use and cost effective safety system.