Committee approves revised ISA-60079-15 standard

An ISA - International Society of Automation product story

Edited by the Processingtalk editorial team Jun 25, 2009

The ISA12 standards committee has approved the newly revised ISA-60079-15 standard.

This standard specifies requirements for the construction, testing and marking of Group II electrical apparatus with 'n'-type protection, intended for use in Class I, Zone 2 hazardous (classified) locations as defined by the ANSI/NFPA 70 National Electrical Code (NEC).

ISA12 chairperson Ted Schnaare with Rosemount said: 'This revised edition is the US adoption of IEC 60079-15:2005 [Edition 3] superseding the IEC 1987 first edition adopted and published by ISA in 1996.

'As IEC 60079-15:2001 [Edition 2] was unsuitable for use in the US, ISA12 waited for the publication of Edition 3 in 2005 to revise the ISA document.

'The result is a closer alignment of the US requirements with those of IEC and ATEX,' he added.

The ISA-60079-15 standard is applicable to non-sparking electrical equipment as well as electrical equipment with parts capable of producing arcs or sparks or having hot surfaces that, if not protected in one of the ways specified in this standard, could ignite a surrounding explosive gas atmosphere.

The ISA12 standards committee on electrical equipment for hazardous locations formulates standards, recommended practices and technical reports for the safe and practical use of equipment in hazardous (classified) locations and for equipment used for the detection of combustible gases.