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 combination of pressure sensor and Ex barrier must meet the ?Proof intrinsic safety? in accordance with the 94/9/EC ATEX directive. Not absolutely all combinations of sensor and barrier from different manufacturers fulfil this problem.
On the one hand, it can be that the safety or Ex characteristic values usually do not match, however, the functional characteristics must match the application. So, even though the safety-related data match, the pair of Ex barrier and pressure sensor might not match since, for example, both components work ?passively?.
(Additional information on the subject ?active?/? Lurking ? can be found in your blog article ?Electrical circuitry for pressure sensors: when is 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 each other. We therefore directly recommend, in our intrinsically safe pressure sensors? data sheets, a potentially compatible intrinsically safe Ex barrier.
If you have any further questions, our sales department will gladly will give you detailed application consultation.