Product category:
Engineering Industry Reports and Surveys
News Release from: Venture Development Corp
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 04 May 2007
Intrinsically safe devices adopted in
the Americas
A VDC study has found that the largest geographic market for the wireless intrinsically safe devices is in the Americas.
General wisdom about intrinsically safe devices says that the biggest market for this type of hazardous area protection is in Europe And in general, this is true, but not always
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 19 Feb 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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In a new market study, Intrinsically Safe Devices: Global Market Assessment, 2nd Edition, Venture Development Corporation (VDC) found the largest geographic market for the wireless intrinsically safe devices is in the Americas.
Explosion proofing and encapsulation, the Americas region's most popular hazardous area protection methods for wireline devices, simply do not apply to mobile devices.
Try picturing a steel-encased mobile phone or two-way radio and at least one reason behind this shift in preferences is apparent.
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Intrinsic safety is just one of the methods used to prevent equipment from causing fires and explosions in areas with hazardous atmospheres, such as explosive gas-air mixtures.
Equipment and wiring is intrinsically safe if it is incapable of releasing sufficient electrical or thermal energy to cause ignition of a hazardous atmosphere in its most ignitable concentration.
VDC found the 2006 worldwide market for the wireline products studied was US $1,215.3 million, which with a forecast compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5% is expected to reach US $1,663.8 million in 2011.
In comparison, the 2006 worldwide market for the studied wireless products was found to be much smaller at US $271.5 million.
However, the markets for some of these products are expected to have high growth rates, and overall the market for these products is expected to increase at a 9.8% CAGR, reaching US $432.7 million in 2011.
Of the products studied, the highest worldwide market growth rate is forecast for intrinsically safe wireless transmitters at 35% per year over the next five years.
For wireline products, the highest forecast growth rate is 9% per year for intrinsically safe distributed/remote I/O.
These products eliminate wiring needs and provide more distributed intelligence.
Use of wireless intrinsically safe transmitters can be particularly cost-effective for remote monitoring, such as for level measurement in tank farms.
An added benefit is the ease of making changes and additions using these products.
The study found the geographic sales distribution for the wireless products to differ considerably from that of the wireline products.
The use of wireline intrinsic safety is well established as a preferred hazardous protection method in the EMEA region, particularly in Europe, and the majority of 2006 worldwide shipments of the wireline products studied were to this region.
The remainder was fairly evenly split between markets in the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions.
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