Introduction to Intrinsic Safety

- There are many places where an explosive mixture of air and gas or vapour is—or may be—present continuously, intermittently or as a result of an accident. These are defined as hazardous areas by BS EN 60079, the code of practice for installation and maintenance of electrical apparatus in potentially explosive atmospheres.

- Hazardous areas are common in petroleum and chemical engineering plants and in factories processing and storing gases, solvents, paints and other volatile substances.

- Electrical equipment for use in these areas needs to be designed so that it cannot ignite an explosive mixture, not only in normal operation but also in fault conditions. There are a number of methods available to achieve this but one of the most common is intrinsic safety.

- Orbis™ IS is a range of conventional detectors which has been developed from the standard range of Orbis smoke and heat detectors.

- Orbis IS is a range with modern styling and a TimeSaver IS base. It is electrically compatible with Apollo Series 60 intrinsically safe conventional detectors.

- Orbis IS is a demonstration of Apollo’s commitment to the market for high quality conventional detectors for use in small to medium size installations. In developing this range Apollo has put ease of installation and reliability in daily operation at the forefront of considerations. Orbis IS is manufactured in Apollo’s factory near Portsmouth, England.