What does intrinsically safe mean?
Intrinsic safety is a protection measure designed to eliminate a potentially hazardous or explosive atmosphere. Intrinsically safe cables are manufactured to be unable to deliver or release sufficient power to ignite an energy or explosive gas. Intrinsically safe cables allow limited voltage and limited currents to power lines and connections that are made to equipment in a hazardous or potential dangerous environment. These cables are signified by a blue jacket and should not have a green/yellow grounding conductor.
• The voltage and/or current (power) in an intrinsically safe circuit is so low that a potentially explosive atmosphere cannot be ignited as the result of a short circuit, interruption or earth fault. • The ignition energy of any spark that may arise is smaller than the minimum ignition energy of the potentially explosive atmosphere. • Neither a spark nor a thermal effect will ignite the potentially explosive atmosphere. • A piece of equipment is defined as intrinsically safe if all its circuits can be defined as intrinsically safe. Voltage and current in an intrinsically safe circuit are so low that a potentially explosive atmosphere cannot be ignited as the result of a short circuit, interruption or earth fault, i.e. the ignition energy of any spark that may arise is smaller than the minimum ignition energy of the potentially explosive atmosphere.
