Within the European Community, intrinsically safe pressure sensors may only be used in hazardous areas if they’re installed in conjunction with an Ex barrier. The mix of pressure sensor and Ex barrier must meet the ?Proof intrinsic safety? relative to the 94/9/EC ATEX directive. Not absolutely all combinations of sensor and barrier from different manufacturers fulfil this problem.
On the main one hand, it can be that the safety or Ex characteristic values do not match, on the other hand, the functional characteristics must also match your application. So, even if Stressed -related data match, the couple of Ex barrier and pressure sensor might not match since, for instance, both components work ?passively?.
(Additional information on the subject ?active?/?passive? are available in the blog article ?Electrical circuitry for pressure sensors: when is really a sensor active, and when passive??)
Therefore, you should make sure that you only use barriers and sensors together whose safety-related data and function-related data match one another. We therefore directly recommend, inside our intrinsically safe pressure sensors? data sheets, a potentially compatible intrinsically safe Ex barrier.
If you have any more questions, our sales department will gladly offer you a detailed application consultation.