Far more potentially explosive situations exist than most people might think. All manufacturing, processing, storage, transportation or loading of flammable materials carries this risk. Apart from the obvious industries such as chemicals, wood, pharmaceuticals, textiles and mining, the same applies to any activity involving fine particles. The presence of oxygen turns many gases, mists, vapors and dusts into explosive substances, and then all it takes is a source of ignition to release destructive bursts of energy. There are also more ways to trigger explosions beyond the most obvious. Once you bear all these factors in mind, you soon start to wonder why there aren’t booms and bangs all over the place!

This relative calm is largely thanks to the measuring and camera systems used to record conditions or actual incidents, which themselves must be able to withstand the explosive forces in question. DIAS Infrared is now launching an ATEX housing in a pressure-resistant case with germanium windows, which is particularly suitable for integrating infrared cameras and pyrometers in the long-wave infrared range. The company has chosen HANNOVER MESSE 2018 to unveil this new option, which complies with the specifications II 2G Ex db IIC T6 Gb and II 2D Ex tb IIIC T85°C Db, Ta -40°C to +60°C with a high degree of protection in a gas or dust explosion hazard zone 1 (ATEX zone 21). The housing also has a built-in heater and an optional sunshield, making it equally suited to indoor and outdoor use. The data from the PYROVIEW thermal imagers is transmitted via an Ethernet interface, while the series-10 and series-44 PYROSPOT pyrometers can transmit measured values via both the RS485 interface and the current output.