Barriers, Galvanic isolation

In hazardous areas, there are a range of protective measures to prevent the

formation and ignition of an explosive atmosphere. The intrinsic safety type of
protection plays an important role in process automation. Intrinsic safety
requires us to consider the entire electrical circuit, which consists of a
current/voltage source, consumers and cables. This means that in order to use
intrinsically safe field devices such as sensors, transmitters or
valves, intrinsically safe barriers are also always required. These barriers create
a failsafe limit for the amount of energy within the electrical circuit so that no
ignitable spark or thermal sources of ignition can be created. The intrinsic safety
type of protection significantly simplifies the installation, handling and
maintenance of field devices, as these activities can be performed during
ongoing operation.

The following information will explain more about the functions, applications
and advantages of isolators and safety barriers in hazardous areas.

ISOLATORS
In process technology-related systems, isolators – also known as isolated
barriers – can be used to integrate field devices in automation systems. Point-to-
point connections with conventional isolators are a proven and easy-to-use
solution. These devices are based on the galvanic separation of intrinsically safe
and non-intrinsically safe circuits. This ensures a high degree of safety as there
is no conductive connection between the hazardous area and the "normal"
world.
By using transformers, optoisolators, galvanically isolated barriers (or galvanic
isolators) isolate excess energy, rather than divert it. The main advantages of
this type of safety barrier are:

 the possibility of connecting devices to ground in a Hazardous Area (no

dedicated ground connection is required);
 accuracy;
 simplicity of installation;
 elimination of ground loops;
  the possibility to use sensors connected to the structural ground of the
system;
 full voltage available to field devices;
 high rejection to common mode disorders.
 Lower installation cost.

However, compared to Zener barriers, isolators have higher unit costs.

Galvanic isolation is a principle of isolating functional sections of electrical

systems to prevent current flow; no direct conduction path is
permitted.[1][2] Energy or information can still be exchanged between the
sections by other means, such as capacitive, inductive, radiative, optical,
acoustic or mechanical.
Galvanic isolation is used where two or more electric circuits must
communicate, but their grounds may be at different potentials. It is an effective
method of breaking ground loops by preventing unwanted current from flowing
between two units sharing a ground conductor. Galvanic isolation is also used
for safety, preventing accidental electric shocks.

SAFETY BARRIERS
Safety barriers, also known as Zener barriers, connect intrinsically safe circuits
to non-intrinsically safe circuits such as Ex i field devices and control
technology. A suitable barrier will always be found – an individual barrier or a
combination of barriers – for standard signals such as 4 to 20 mA and for less
common signals.

The barriers use a combination of Zener diodes, resistors and fuses to limit the
electrical energy that enters the hazardous area. This means that there is no risk
of ignition due to sparks or thermal effects. The cost-effective safety
barriers protect the electrical circuits (cables and equipment) that are installed in
hazardous areas. Unlike with isolators, however, this does not involve galvanic
separation between the intrinsically safe and non-intrinsically safe circuit.
Zener barriers are the most traditional interface type. They basically work
diverting the potentially dangerous fault energy to earth. They consist in a very
simple network of components including a fuse, a resistor and some zener
diodes.
The main positive aspects of Zener barriers are the ease of installation, the small
size and the relatively low cost, but there are also some negative aspects to
consider:

 they need a good ground connection (with a resistance of less than 1

ohm) dedicated, which should be maintained over time;
 they are not reusable: if the fuse blows (for wrong or improper
connections), the entire barrier must be replaced;
 isolation in the field must be guaranteed over time;
 they have a poor common mode rejection.