Lefae Certifies as Testing Facility to Perform in Explosive Atmosphere
Lefae has been certified as a new testing facility for verifying the conformity of equipment installed in potentially explosive zones (equivalent to ATEX requirements) in the presence of hydrocarbon fluids and vapors. It is the Emitech Group’s laboratory specializing in environmental testing with severe constraints: fire testing and combined climatic testing.
Lefae’s new bench is designed for carrying out tests in an explosive atmosphere in the new testing facility. These tests specify the requirements and procedures for aircraft equipment that could come into contact with flammable fluids and vapors. This equipment is generally associated with fuel systems, such as tanks, pump units, valves, monitoring and control instruments, etc.
This type of test encompasses both normal and fault conditions potentially occurring in zones that are or may be in contact with flammable fluids and vapors during flight operations.
The conditions for explosivity are obtained by producing a stoichiometric air/fuel mixture in sufficient proportions to exceed the Lower Explosivity Limit (L.E.L.) of this mixture. The nature of the components of this mixture must be taken into account as well as the conditions of temperature and pressure under which the mixture is created. Flammable test fluids, vapors or gases simulate those normally used in conventional aircraft and which require oxygen for combustion.
The tests performed by Lefae comply with the requirements of EUROCAT-ED-14D, RTCA DO-160, MIL-STD-810 standards. They enable functional tests to be run on the equipment in an explosive atmosphere without triggering the explosion of the stoichiometric air/fuel mixture. They evaluate the capacity of the protective enclosure (ATEX requirement approach) of the equipment under test to contain an explosion or a flame when the equipment is activated.
Measurement results and the associated test reports are established by the objectives and the requirements expressed by customers and/or regulatory authorities. Emitech is the only group in France addressing all test sequences (climatic, vibration and explosion) in their entirety. It acts as a single point of contact, able to anticipate and deal with anomalies.
