News

Henry Cecil Booth registered the British Vacuum Cleaner Company in 1903 to exploit his patented innovation, the first mechanically-powered vacuum cleaner. Nearly 120 years later the BVC range of industrial vacuum cleaners, now manufactured by Quirepace Ltd, continues to deliver innovative and robust vacuum cleaning solutions to Industry.

BVC equipment is manufactured to meet the specific requirements of our customers; machines can be configured with many different options to meet specific demands. One of the most important sectors of the market is for ATEX rated machines capable of operating in hazardous environments.

ATEX rating has traditionally been a difficulty for many machine applications which have the requirements for operating in potentially hazardous environments, where explosive gases or dust could be present. Examples of such environments are printshops, food processing, wood- or other organic processing, car paintshops, nuclear and the petrochemical industry. 

ATEX certification on machine components has historically come at a substantial additional cost and with extended lead times and to some customers it feels like manufacturers are treating this requirement as a license to print money. 

On 16 of July 2021, the new regulation 2019/1020/EU – Market Surveillance and Compliance of Products Regulation came into effect.

It aims to strengthen the requirements for market surveillance by Member States and will lead to far more checking of technical files and self-declarations including ATEX Category 3 (and probably UKCA CAT 3 as the UK will probably follow or reciprocate the more stringent checking requirements).

On 16 of July 2021, the new regulation 2019/1020/EU – Market Surveillance and Compliance of Products Regulation came into effect.

It aims to strengthen the requirements for market surveillance by Member States and will lead to far more checking of technical files and self-declarations including ATEX Category 3 (and probably UKCA CAT 3 as the UK will probably follow or reciprocate the more stringent checking requirements).

SFC Energy AG (F3C:DE, ISIN: DE0007568578), a leading supplier of hydrogen and methanol fuel cells for stationary and mobile hybrid power solutions, welcomed Bundestag member and parliamentary group leader of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Dr Anton Hofreiter to the company's headquarter in Brunnthal, Munich.

Dr Hofreiter gained a deeper insight into the production of environmentally friendly, hybrid energy supply solutions alongside SFC Energy CEO Dr Peter Podesser. A visit to the SFC development centre was also on the agenda, where Dr Hofreiter also learned about the advantages of the recently launched EFOY Hydrogen hydrogen fuel cell.

If you look at any intrinsically safe (IS) portable LED lighting product, you'll notice it has a printed or raised section of text on it. This safety requirement lets users see if the product they plan to use is safe to take into a potentially hazardous environment. 

Let's take a look at one example of a marking file and explain what it means. This example shows a very high safety rating for a global market and thus has a very complex marking file.

Safety of a No-Moving Parts Design With Built-In Flow Conditioner for Accuracy

The advanced, compact ST75V Air/Gas Flow Meter from Fluid Components International (FCI) is the perfect solution to monitor the potentially volatile, hydrogen (H2) gas necessary to help large electric plant power generators keep their cool as they produce electricity serving customers large and small across the power grid.

Safety company Pyroban has appointed a distributor for parts in Europe to optimise the logistics process following Brexit. AI2C based near Marseille in France will now act as Pyroban’s European Parts Distribution Centre.

EU customers can now buy Pyroban approved parts directly from AI2C which holds stock locally of all fast moving Pyroban parts to allow rapid shipment. AI2C will also take care of the import of bespoke and non-stocked parts from Pyroban’s manufacturing facility in the UK and handle onward shipment to the customer. 

A renewed focus on the quality of indoor environments is an opportunity to weed out “ventilation cowboys” according to an air quality expert at Elta Group. 

The transmission of COVID19 has propelled the topics of indoor air quality (IAQ) and calibre of ventilation systems under the public spotlight over the past year. 

According to David Millward, Group Product Manager at Elta Group, this is a prime opportunity for industries to raise the standard of installation across the board, following a number of years of corner-cutting due to price wars and time constraints. 

There are many scenarios where working at height is simply unavoidable and some of the most hazardous work sees operatives working on top of an elevated surface or structure. It’s here where selecting the correct fall arrest solution is critical. 

Jon Rowan, Product Line Manager at MSA Safety, explores where, when and how Self-Retracting Lifelines (SRLs) should be deployed for vertical fall arrest protection, and looks at the features that define the most reliable, robust and best lifetime-value equipment.