- The type of work environment where the vacuum cleaner will be used in.
- The material that will be recovered by the vacuum cleaner.
The following information aims to clarify some key concepts pertaining to Zones of use, ATEX directives and such rules and regulations. We recommend you contact our Technical Representatives to establish what requirements need to be met in your work environment.
Work Environments
Below are the three major categories of environments for which Tiger-Vac has developed specifically adapted vacuum cleaners:
Cleanrooms
Cleanrooms have a controlled level of contamination defined by a number of specific size particles per cubic meter.
Cleanrooms are usually found in industries such as semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology, pharmaceutical industries and other industries that are very sensitive to environmental contamination
To be able to maintain a low level of contamination the air entering a cleanroom from outside is filtered to be kept out of dust and the air inside is constantly filtered through high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) and ultra low penetration air (ULPA) filters to remove internally generated contaminants.
To generate minimal air contamination Tiger-Vac's vacuum cleaners designed to be used in cleanrooms come with HEPA Filters (efficiency of 99.995% @ 0.3 micron. Tested: IEST RP-CC001.3. H14 by MPPS method as per EN 1822) or ULPA Filters (efficiency of 99.999% @ 0.12 micron, or efficiency of 99.9995% @ 0.18 micron. Tested: IEST RP-CC001.3. U15 by MPPS method as per EN 1822).
Cleanroom vacuum cleaner systems line
Potentially explosive atmospheres
Potentially explosive atmospheres are working areas endangered by the presence of flammable gases, vapors, mists or dusts that have the potential to be explosive in presence of oxygen and a source of ignition.
Typically potentially explosive atmospheres can be form in refineries, chemical factories, paint shops, flour mill, process manufacturing sites and where work activities create or release flammable gases or vapours.
In order to prevent explosions to occur in these sensitive work environments the European community has adopted two directives concerning potentially explosive atmospheres called ATEX directives.
These two directives outline the responsibilities of manufacturers and customers concerning the use of equipment in potentially explosive atmospheres.
The Customers' responsibility:
- The responsibility of customers is to assign zones to their working areas, as defined in the Directive 99/92/EC also known as ATEX 137 or the ATEX "Worker safety Directive", and to determine the substances that the EX. proof vacuum cleaner will recover.
Tiger-Vac's responsibility as a manufacturer:
- The responsibility of Tiger-Vac is to manufacture EX. proof vacuum cleaners that meet the requirements for the categories defined in the Directive 94/9/EC, also known as ATEX 95 or ATEX 100a or the ATEX "Equipment" Directive, and to inform customers concerning the substances the EX. proof vacuum cleaner can recover.
Category 2 Explosion proof vacuum cleaner systems line
Compliance with ATEX directives
ATEX Directive 94/9/EC came into effect July 1, 2003. Since that date, all new equipment and protective systems which may be used in areas endangered by potentially explosive atmospheres (created by the presence of flammable gases, vapors, mists or dusts) need to be compliant to ATEX standards, certified and marked. As of June 30, 2006, all existing equipment and protective systems that were installed and are not compliant need be changed or modified to become compliant.
For more information:
ATEX Category 2 Explosion Proof Vacuum Cleaner systems line
Standard industrial work environments
In standard industrial work environments no specific level of contamination is required and are not endangered by the presence of flammable gases, vapors, mists or dusts.
For standard industrial work environments Tiger-Vac has designed several vacuum cleaners with powerful suction made for industrial applications.
Standard industrial vacuum cleaner systems line
Recovered Material
Specific material recovery
Tiger-Vac has developed vacuum cleaners to be able to recover specific materials such as flammable materials, broken ampules and glass, gun powders and shell in shooting ranges.
Flammable materials
Flammable materials can be gaseous, liquid or solid.
To work in potentially explosive atmospheres where flammable materials are present Tiger-Vac always suggests an explosion proof vacuum cleaner designed in conformance with ATEX 94/9/EC directive.
To recover flammable liquids such as fuel and solvents Tiger-Vac has designed a series of tangential exhaust vacuum cleaners, electric and pneumatic.
To recover flammable solids like conductive dusts or pyrotechnic material Tiger-Vac explosion proof vacuum cleaners can be used in conjunction with an immersion separator which will neutralize and render inert the material recovered in a liquid bath.
Electrically operated Tangential Exhaust Vacuum Cleaner System
Pneumatically (air) operated Tangential Exhaust Vacuum Cleaner System
Broken ampules and glass
For pharmaceutical plants purposes Tiger-Vac has designed the pharmavac. It allows to recover safely broken ampules and glass.
Broken ampules and glass are separated from liquid and are recovered in an autoclavable sieve basket.
Gun powder
Tiger-Vac has designed a specific series of shooting range vacuum-cleaners to recover gun powders and shells.
Electrically operated Shooting Range Vacuum Cleaner System
Pneumatically (air) operated Shooting Range Vacuum Cleaner System
