MFS-PDX-313
Member
- Location
- Tualatin, Oregon, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical design engineer, Industrial equipment
Years back, the company I work for had a third-party inspection for a number of standards on a piece of industrial equipment. One of them was NFPA79.
One of the findings was that we had a problem with one of the compartments of the equipment. In this compartment was an electrical panel with I/O (specifically, it was Omron brand I/O cards with an Ethernet coupler for communicating back to the PLC), various piping for compressed air and nitrogen (along with solenoid valves), and a couple of 2kW 208VAC pump controllers.
The inspector stated that due to NFPA79 11.2.2.2 "Pipelines, tubing, or devices (e.g., solenoid valves) for handling air, gases, or liquids shall not be located in enclosures or compartments containing electrical control equipment." we had to remove the pump controllers.
We were still able to keep the I/O in that compartment.
Now unfortunately, the engineer who handled that safety audit is no longer with us and didn't document the audit very well. Or if he did, his laptop was scrubbed and we don't have the documents. All I have is an old email stating the above.
Can someone explain why we were able to keep the I/O in that compartment? It seems as though the above mentioned part of NFPA79 would restrict us from having anything electrical in that compartment. Is it because all the I/O is 24VDC?
Also, if this question is better suited in a different forum, let me know, and I can move it.
One of the findings was that we had a problem with one of the compartments of the equipment. In this compartment was an electrical panel with I/O (specifically, it was Omron brand I/O cards with an Ethernet coupler for communicating back to the PLC), various piping for compressed air and nitrogen (along with solenoid valves), and a couple of 2kW 208VAC pump controllers.
The inspector stated that due to NFPA79 11.2.2.2 "Pipelines, tubing, or devices (e.g., solenoid valves) for handling air, gases, or liquids shall not be located in enclosures or compartments containing electrical control equipment." we had to remove the pump controllers.
We were still able to keep the I/O in that compartment.
Now unfortunately, the engineer who handled that safety audit is no longer with us and didn't document the audit very well. Or if he did, his laptop was scrubbed and we don't have the documents. All I have is an old email stating the above.
Can someone explain why we were able to keep the I/O in that compartment? It seems as though the above mentioned part of NFPA79 would restrict us from having anything electrical in that compartment. Is it because all the I/O is 24VDC?
Also, if this question is better suited in a different forum, let me know, and I can move it.
