§ Legislation, Standards and Technology

Marking of explosion-protected
equipment
New ruling in IEC 60079-0, 2007 and EN 60079-0, 2009
by Roger Peters

Devices for use in potentially explosive at- › the symbol for an explosion-protected
mospheres have to be marked. The require- device
ments on markings come from different › the symbol of each type of protection that
sources. So EU Directive 94/9/EC (ATEX 95) has been applied
stipulates in Europe, which information has › group IIA, IIB or IIC for explosive gas at-
to be given on the type label. These are the mospheres
minimum requirements that have to be sup- › temperature class for explosive gas at-
plemented by further information required for mospheres or the maximum surface tem-
safety. The required safety-relevant data and perature in °C for areas with combustible
their order on the type label are stipulated in dust.
the European standards. Examples:
The requirements on electrical devices for Ex d e IIC T4
use in explosive gas atmospheres are includ- Ex d [ia] IIB T5
ed in standard series EN 60079. For devices Ex pD21 T120 °C
that are intended for use in areas with com-
bustible dust standard series EN 61241 has to With associated electrical equipment in
be applied. For many years now these stand- type of protection intrinsic safety that is to be
ards have been prepared on an international installed in the safe area, the symbols for this
level by the IEC and then adopted as Europe- type of protection have to be put into square
an standards. brackets, e.g. [Ex ia] IIC. If the equipment is
Up to now marking has been specified in IEC to be mounted in hazardous areas it has to be
60079-0 / 2004 and in IEC 61241-0 / 2004. To protected by another type of protection. Then
clearly identify the device, the type identifi- only the mark for intrinsic safety is put into
cation and the serial number have to be stat- square brackets, e.g. Ex d e [ib] IIC T6.
ed as well as, the manufacturer’s name or his In the past, the marking pursuant to the
trademark. For devices subject to certifica- European standard changed from ›Ex‹ to
tion the name of the notified body issuing the ›EEx‹. This was done to relate to the Europe-
certificate and the certification number have an standards (EN 50014 serie) that then dif-
to be given. Additionally, a special coding is fered from the IEC-standards. With the cur-
required that describes the applicable use of rent state of the standards this is no longer
the device: required so that in Europe the new devices
are only marked ›Ex‹ as well.
From the previous marking the protection lev-
el of the device in regard to explosion protec-
tion cannot be clearly seen right away.

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Only knowledge of the possible application of When an associated electrical equipment Groups
the different types of protection indicates the with an intrinsically safe circuit ia has been
application of the device in the respective fitted into a flameproof enclosure, for exam- The suitability of devices for use in different
zones. This problem was noticed in Europe at ple, make it possible to install it into Zone 1, hazardous areas is determined by groups. Up
an early stage. So with the European Direc- the following marking is required: Ex d [ia Ga] until now two groups have been defined: de-
tive 94/9/EC (ATEX 95) the equipment catego- IIC T4 Gb. vices intended for use in mines at risk
ries 1, 2 and 3 were introduced. Transfer of through firedamp belong to Group I. Group II
these categories from the Directive to the stands for devices that may be used in areas
standards, however, has only been done in other than mines, specifically areas that are
the EN-standards and not in the IEC-stand- at risk through flammable gas. 
ards.

New marking

In the IEC 60079-0 / 2007 the devices for EPL Ga Equipment for explosive gas atmospheres, having ensuring a "very high" level of
use in explosive dust atmospheres have been protection for use in explosive gas atmospheres, which is not a source of ignition
included. So the general requirements on de- in normal operation, during expected malfunction, or during rare malfunction.
vices for use in explosive gas and dust at- EPL Gb Equipment for explosive gas atmospheres, ensuring a "high" level of protection,
mospheres are covered in this standard. which is not a source of ignition in normal operation or during expected malfunc-
Marking has now been supplemented tions,
with the protection level of the equipment.
This equipment protection level (EPL) con- EPL Gc Equipment for explosive gas atmospheres, ensuring an "enhanced" level of protec-
sists of two letters. The first one gives infor- tion, which is not a source of ignition in normal operation and which may have
mation on the type of explosive atmosphere: some additional protection to ensure that it remains inactive as an ignition source
G for gas, D for dust. The actual protection in the case of regular expected occurrences (for example failure of a lamp)
level is defined by the letters a, b or c (table
EPL Da Equipment for explosive dust atmospheres, ensuring a "very high" level of protec-
1). These letters are already used for some
tion, which is not a source of ignition in normal operation, during expected mal-
types of protection to mark the respective
functions, or during rare malfunctions
protection level: ia, ib, ic.
The symbol for the equipment protection EPL Db Equipment for explosive dust atmospheres, ensuring a "high" level of protection,
level is added to the existing standard mark- which is not a source of ignition in normal operation or during expected malfunc-
ing: example: Ex d e IIC T4 Gb. With associat- tions
ed electrical equipment, the EPL-symbol has
EPL Dc Equipment for explosive dust atmospheres, ensuring an "enhanced" level of pro-
to be mentioned after the type of protection:
tection, which is not a source of ignition in normal operation and which may have
example: [Ex ia Ga)] IIC.
some additional protection to ensure that it remains inactive as an ignition source
in the case of regular expected occurrences (for example failure of a lamp)
Table 1: Marking and definition of Equipment Protection Level EPL

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Marking of explosion-protected equipment

Further sub-division of this Group II into three So EPL marking can be omitted. Marking according to ATEX 95
sub-groups IIA, IIB and IIC determines which Example:
type of gas the device is suitable for. With the › Ex db eb IIC T4 In Europe, in addition to the marking ac-
IEC 60079-0 / 2007 a new group III has been › Ex db [ia] IIB T5 cording to standard, the requirements ac-
introduced. It stands for devices that are in- › Ex tb IIB T120°C cording to EC Directive 94/9/EC (ATEX 95)
tended for areas in which an explosive dust have to be fulfilled.
atmosphere may be expected. Devices have Table 3 shows the currently possible alter- ATEX 95 Directive Annex II requires the fol-
to meet different requirements for different nate marking of the different types of protec- lowing marking:
dusts. So, similarly to Group II, further sub-di- tion. Old, new and alternate marking is › name and address of the manufacturer
vision are also planned for Group III : shown in table 2. › serial number, year of manufacture
› IIIA: combustible flyings The manufacturer may decide which › mark with the identification number of
› IIIB: non-conductive dusts marking he will use. However, the alternate the notified body
› IIIC: conductive dusts marking seems to be more coherent as re- › and category 1, 2 or 3
Thus the devices can be assigned to the dundant information are eliminated. › and for Group II the letter G (gases) or D
different types of dust and their different re- (dust)
quirements. Example: Ex tb IIIC T120°C Db.
Example: 2 II G

Example for marking according to ATEX

Alternate marking Directive and standard EN 60079-0:
0158 2 II G Ex d b eb IIC T4
Standard IEC 60079-0 / 2007 allows alter- On devices that are marketed within the
native marking to the one described in the EU, marking according to the Directive has to
previous chapter, which gives information be added to the required marking of an inter-
twice in some cases. With the introduction of national standard
Group III the suitability of a device for gas at-
mospheres (II) or dust atmospheres (III) can
be seen directly through the group number.
So the letter G or D in the equipment protec-
tion level does not give additional informa-
tion.
With some types of protection the protec-
tion level is marked by supplementing the let-
old marketing new marketing alternate marketing
ters a, b or c to the symbol of the type of pro-
tection. Alternate marking intends to add this Ex d IIB T4 Ex d IIB T4 Gb Ex db IIB T4
distinguishing letter to all types of protection.
Ex de IIC T4 Ex de IIC T4 Gb Ex db eb IIC T4
E.g., flameproof enclosures ›d‹ will then be
marked ›db‹. This then clearly shows the ap- Ex ia IIC T4 Ex ia IIC T4 Ga Ex ia IIC T4
plication range of a device in regards to the Ex d [ia] IIC T6 Ex d [ia Ga] IIC T6 Gb Ex db [ia] IIC T6
potentially present explosive atmosphere and
Ex tDA21 IP 65 T225 °C Ex tb IIIC T 225 °C Db Ex tb IIIC T 225 °C
the protection level without stating the EPL.
Table 2: Comparison of the different markings according to IEC 60079-0

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 use for gas atmospheres use for dust atmospheres
Type of protection
Zone 0 Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 20 Zone 21 Zone 22
Flameproof enclosures db
Increased safety eb
Intrinsic safety ia ib ic ia ib
Encapsulation ma mb mc ma mb mc
Oil-immersion ob
Power filling qb
Pressurized enclosure pxb, pyb pzc pb pc
Protection by enclosure ta tb tc
Non-sparking device nAc
Devices and components nCc
Restricted breathing enclosures nRc
Table 3: Symbols of the type of protections according to the alternate marking

Non-electrical devices › Marking of the different types of protec- Type of protection symbol
tion for non-electrical devices is given in
Standards for non-electrical devices have up table 4. Constructional safety c
until now only been prepared by CEN for Eu-
Control of ignition source b
rope. On an international level only the first Example for marking according to Direc-
steps towards standardization have been tive and standard EN 13463-1: Flow restricting enclosures fr
taken. 2 II G d IIB T4
Pressurized enclosure p
Marking strongly follows the definitions for
electrical devices. Liquid immersion k
Exceptions:
Flameproof enclosure d
› ›Ex‹ is not stated as the marking according
to ATEX Directive already includes the Table 4: Marking of the types of protection of non-
symbol which indicates explosion pro- electrical equipment
tection.
› Equipment protection level is not stated
as this has not been defined in the re-
spective standards up until now. By stat-
ing the category as required by the Direc-
tive it can be seen which protection level
the device has and in which zone it can
be mounted.

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