April 20 - Straightpoint, which provides load cells that ensure loads are safe to lift, offload, pull or push, has announced that its expanded range of ATEX products conform to the new 2014/34/EU directive that becomes effective today, updating 94/9/EC.
The new ATEX directive has been published to bring it into line with the New Legislative Framework (NLF) and requires equipment and protective systems intended for explosive atmospheres to be designed and manufactured to minimise the occurrence and limit the severity of accidental explosions.
It applies to new equipment intended for use in explosive atmospheres such as electrical components and apparatus and machinery; as well as separately supplied protective systems for controlling unavoidable explosions in explosive atmospheres such as explosion vents, suppression systems, and so forth.
At the turn of the year, Straightpoint launched an ATEX and IECEx version of its most popular product, the Radiolink Plus wireless load cell, which met Zone 0, 1 and 2 hazardous area classification.
An ATEX version of the wireless Handheld Plus followed, while other wireless products including compression cells, shackle cells, load pins and the Running Line Dynamometer (or TIMH), part of the manufacturer's tension in motion range, are also in accordance with the new 2014/34/EU directive and boast classification in the three zones, including 0 (an area in which an explosive gas atmosphere is present continuously or for long periods).
Roshan Divakaran, design engineer, Straightpoint, said: "We have been in close collaboration with the Sira Certification Service, an independent certification body, for more than two years and it has been very helpful with the new directive implementation and certifications for the new products we've introduced. We have not only expanded our ATEX range of products, but we will be in a position to supply them from the first week of May - almost simultaneous with the new directive becoming effective."
Straightpoint's products are currently being used within a wide range of industries such as oil and gas, shipping, construction, renewable energies, lifting and cranes, mining, staging, test and inspection, and military applications.
