Using Digi radios in hazardous environments

Digi radios have been certified for use in Class 1 Division 1 environments by several of our customers. The radio modem was incorporated into a complete system that was then tested and certified to Intrinsic Safety standards for use in hazardous locations.

The certification process usually includes working with a laboratory to find out exactly what is required to pass the requirements. Most of our customers have acheived Class 1 Division 1 rating using a combination of:

  • Explosion proof housing for the electronics
  • Adding extra fault protection circuitry to radio modems to ensure compliance with intrinsic safety standards.

In one case the test lab suggested using capacitors to the antenna port to prevent sparking through the antenna cable. A capacitor that we have tested for this application is Digikey part no. P11426CT-ND. These are 22pf capacitors that can be inserted in series with the antenna port to provide protection for 1500 VAC tests. Digi tested 9XStream radios with two 22pf capacitors in series with the antenna port. The capacitors caused less than 1dB of loss to the receiver sensitivity and transmit power. See test setup below.

Last updated: Aug 23, 2017

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RF

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