Intermec ATEX Solution with 700 Series Platform

Processing of mineral oil, gas refinery, organic chemistry, paint industry, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries are clear examples of industries where a potentially explosive atmosphere could be created. In this type of environment, safety regulations dictate the highest restrictions you can imagine for any tools or machinery in order to avoid any possibility of sparks, electrostatic discharge, or high temperature that could initiate any ignition, not just during normal operation, but even in situations where shock or falling down could cause internal components to be exposed to this dangerous concentration of flammable gases. In such conditions, Intermec fulfil the workers’ requirements with different ATEX mobile solutions: CK32 (zone 0) and 7X1 Series (zone 2)

This Product Alert provides advanced notification concerning the pending retirement of Intermec’s 700 Series ATEX-certified configurations and the corresponding accessories.

Intermec has recently been informed that the 7x1 ATEX configurations recently into production will be subject to the new ATEX certification requirements that go into effect on June 1, 2008. This is a significant departure from past rulings that allowed devices to be “grandfathered” in based on previous certificates, provided there were no material changes to the device.

While technical in nature, it is important to understand the significance of the new certification requirements as it relates to the 7x1 Series.

The new certification requirements require the 7x1 ATEX configurations to be certified against a test that applies 3.5x more energy to the enclosure after it has been exposed or “aged” in extreme conditions for twice as long. These conditions greatly exceed the original design specifications of the 7x1 Series; which is prompting the truncated Product Retirement plan.

Please inform your customers accordingly to minimize the impact to any planned rollouts

Migration Strategy

Customers with on-going or planned rollouts that exceed this timeframe should begin considering Intermec’s new CN3e. The Intermec CN3e, part of the CN3 mobile computer series, features the same extensive communication options, and extensible array of customer-installable accessories as the CN3, but incorporates an extremely rugged design and enlarged keypad to support data intensive applications requiring speed, accuracy and longevity. The CN3 and CN3e is currently pursuing the following certification ratings to address hazardous environments:

• ATEX / IECEx (EU & APAC)
- Zone 2, IIC (non-GPRS configurations)
- Zone 2, IIB (GPRS configurations) 

Configuration Options available in August 2008.

Note: For pricing, please contact ADC Nordic customer service.