Innovative rupture disc technology combines safety and economy

A large pro­por­tion of indus­tri­al plants process com­bustible dusts and gas­es, which in the worst case can lead to an explo­sion. To min­i­mize the effects of such an explo­sion, IEP Tech­nolo­gies, the safe­ty expert of the HOERBIGER Group, has added a new explo­sion pro­tec­tion solu­tion for process ves­sels inside build­ings to its port­fo­lio: The IV8 (Indoor Vent 8) flame­less explo­sion vent with inno­v­a­tive rup­ture disc tech­nol­o­gy can be used where stan­dard explo­sion vent­ing is no longer suf­fi­cient. The DIN EN 16009 cer­ti­fied pro­tec­tion sys­tem was devel­oped to make flame­less explo­sion vent­ing more eco­nom­i­cal. Com­pared to com­mon solu­tions, the IV8 offers high­er effec­tive­ness with a plus in safe­ty at low­er cost.

The risk of explo­sion and dan­ger to peo­ple and equip­ment increas­es when explo­sive dusts and an effec­tive igni­tion source come togeth­er in pro­duc­tion process­es. Explo­sion vent­ing sys­tems serve to min­i­mize the effects of an explo­sion with­in a process ves­sel by safe­ly vent­ing both the explo­sion pres­sure and the flame to the out­side. How­ev­er, if flame dis­charge is struc­tural­ly impos­si­ble, flame­less pres­sure relief is used: in this approach, the flame front is smoth­ered and the pres­sure of the dust explo­sion is allowed to escape.

Explosion venting redefined 

The IV8 con­sists of an explo­sion rup­ture disc as a relief device and a spe­cial stain­less steel mesh in a robust steel frame. When an explo­sion occurs, the relief device opens and diverts the explo­sion pres­sure and flame through a flame extin­guish­ing ele­ment. Hot gas­es are cooled and the flame is extin­guished. The inte­grat­ed burst sen­sor con­nect­ed to the process con­trol sys­tem detects the relief process. This imme­di­ate­ly stops the pro­duc­tion process and thus switch­es off fans and con­vey­or sys­tems, among oth­er things.

The spe­cial fea­tures of the pro­tec­tion sys­tem are the inno­v­a­tive rup­ture disc tech­nol­o­gy and the opti­mized design of the flame extin­guish­ing ele­ment: The nov­el open­ing prin­ci­ple of the rup­ture disc and the ellip­ti­cal design of the IV8 ensure smooth per­for­mance and high effec­tive­ness. In this way, the sys­tem makes it pos­si­ble to effec­tive­ly pro­tect equip­ment inside build­ings that are at risk of dust explosions. 

“The IV8 flame­less pres­sure relief sys­tem demon­strates that reli­able, high-qual­i­ty pro­tec­tion for employ­ees and plants is pos­si­ble under eco­nom­i­cal­ly attrac­tive conditions.”

- Markus Häseli, Man­ag­ing Direc­tor Ger­many and Direc­tor of Sales Europe at IEP Technologies