Within the European Community, intrinsically safe pressure sensors may only be used in hazardous areas if they are installed in conjunction with an Ex barrier. The mix of pressure sensor and Ex barrier must meet up with the ?Proof of intrinsic safety? in accordance with the 94/9/EC ATEX directive. Not absolutely all combinations of sensor and barrier from different manufacturers fulfil this condition.
On the main one hand, it could be that the safety or Ex characteristic values usually do not match, on the other hand, the functional characteristics must also match the application. So, even if the safety-related data match, the couple of Ex barrier and pressure sensor may not match since, for instance, both components work ?passively?.
(Additional information on the subject ?active?/?passive? can be found in your blog article ? Severe for pressure sensors: when is a sensor active, and when passive??)
Therefore, you should make sure that you merely use barriers and sensors together whose safety-related data and function-related data match one another. We therefore directly recommend, inside our intrinsically safe pressure sensors? data sheets, a potentially compatible intrinsically safe Ex barrier.
If you have any more questions, our sales department will gladly will give you detailed application consultation.