 Dr. Gerd Mayer Rembe, Inc. President Visit Website |
Dr. Gerd Mayer is President of REMBE, INC., US subsidiary of Rembe®, GMBH, a quality consulting, engineering and safety technology manufacturer, selling top notch explosion protection, process safety and measurement products. Dr. Mayer is involved with every application of REMBE® products in the US market, including evaluation and engineering of every project. His hands-on approach has resulted in a depth of experience with combustible dust explosion prevention, protection and applications that is vital to industry and clients. Dr. Mayer has doctorate in Process Engineering as well as an Engineering degree, and has worked in a number of industries in the US and abroad. REMBE®, GMBH manufactures a number of innovative explosion protection and process safety products, including flameless indoor venting systems, and custom application rupture discs. They are also a member of the committee for NFPA 69.
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Explosion Venting/Suppression Q&A
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Many times the subject of explosion venting comes up in discussions about bulk bag unloaders. We normally mount an iris valve on the untie box which is mounted on a receiving hopper. It has always been my contention that the iris valve would act as the “vent”, so an explosion vent would not be required. The iris valve provides a 12 in. or larger “nylon covered hole” at the top of the stack up. What do you think of this installation?Answered May 18th, 2011 by Expert:Any enclosure containing a combustible material has to be vented/suppressed and isolated if there is any risk that a spark could cause an explosion. Without having full knowledge of the iris valve design, I can tell you that for isolation purposes, the valve has to be certified as an explosion proof design. The need for an explosion proof design is to prevent the spread of any combustion incident that may occur in the hopper.
Separately, I am concerned about your mention of nylon material – what you refer to as a “nylon covered hole”. Using nylon or anything similar, coupled with the flow of bulk material, can create a favorable environment for static electricity, the discharge of which could create a “spark” event or, in other words, the ignition source for a combustible event.