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Many
industries are involved in coating products with solvent-borne
materials and then employing ovens or dryers to remove the solvents
from the finished product.
The key hazard is an explosion from
the build up of solvent vapors in the oven or dryer atmosphere.
This buildup could occur by a malfunction in the production process
such as: a sudden or improper amount of coating, a change in
ventilation controls or excessive speed. In any of these cases, the
concentration of flammable vapor has an opportunity to rise above
safe levels, creating a potentially explosive mixture of vapor in
air.
The design
specification for safe operation of a solvent oven or dryer is
outlined in safety and fire codes. The codes limit the maximum
solvent concentration allowable to 25% of the LFL under worst case
operation. However if a flammable vapor analyzer is installed as a
safety control the maximum allowable concentration is 50% LFL. Our
PrevEx analyzers are the only analyzers that meet all the
requirements of the NFPA standards.
Examples of process ovens & dryers applications including: Foil finishing,
film coating, tape making, curing ovens, adhesives, laminating, ceramic curing ovens,
paper coating & glazing, pharmaceutical coating, paper, film & foil converting,
and batch ovens. |
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Required