Ensuring reliable safety functions with a pressure transmitter is a major challenge in demanding industrial environments, particularly in highly critical sectors such as nuclear power, energy, and complex industrial processes.
In this context, a pressure transmitter provide a measurement: it plays a direct role in preventing dangerous situations, protecting facilities, and ensuring personal safety. Its selection must therefore meet strict criteria, including technical, regulatory, and organizational requirements.
This article presents six essential criteria to consider in order to ensure that a pressure transmitter effectively pressure transmitter a safety function throughout its life cycle.
Summarize this article with :
The nuclear industry is a mature industry with well-known processes and reliability requirements.
These requirements are defined by customers, process producers and legal regulations governing all aspects of safety, in line with the safety requirements published by the French Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Authority (ASNR).
In this context, pressure sensors and transmitters have played an essential role in process monitoring and control for several decades, contributing directly to the safety of facilities.
The ongoing evolution of safety requirements, feedback gathered at the international level, and increased focus on failure prevention are now leading to even stricter selection criteria for this equipment.
pressure transmitters a safety function must now meet higher standards in terms of robustness, qualification, traceability, and long-term reliability in order to guarantee their performance under all anticipated operating conditions.
The first requirement for ensuring safety is a robust quality approach and a genuine safety culture.
This implies:
The reliability of a pressure transmitter for a safety function depends as much on its design as on the industrial and organizational environment in which it is designed, qualified, and maintained.
A pressure transmitter in a safety function must guarantee its performance over the long term, even under severe operating conditions.
The qualified service life is based in particular on:
Rigorous qualification makes it possible to anticipate the sensor's behavior throughout its use and to ensure that decisions based on its measurements are reliable.
Connectivity plays a decisive role in the overall reliability of the safety function.
An unsuitable or unqualified electrical connection can compromise information transmission and even cause critical failures.
pressure transmitters for safety functions must incorporate:
The quality of the interfaces is as important as that of the pressure transmitter .
The components in contact with the measured fluid, and in particular the seals, must be perfectly suited to the process requirements.
It is essential to take into account:
Choosing the wrong materials can lead to premature deterioration of the sensor and compromise the reliability of the safety function.
The sensor's electronics are a key component in the performance of a safety function.
They must be designed to minimize the risk of failure and ensure reliable transmission of information.
Depending on the application, the choice between analog sensors or sensors with advanced features must be made based on safety requirements and ease of operation.
In the context of a safety function , the choice of connection must be perfectly suited to the pressure transmitter , thermal, and environmental constraints of the installation.
pressure transmitters for these critical applications must therefore offer a variety of process connections, including:
A correctly selected and qualified connection directly contributes to reducing the risk of leaks, mechanical damage, and installation errors, and plays a key role in the overall reliability of the safety function provided by the pressure transmitter.
Fuji Electric offers a comprehensive range of pressure transmitters designed for the nuclear industry, developed to meet the most stringent requirements in terms of safety, reliability, and availability of facilities.
Designed and manufactured in France, these sensors are based on:
The range covers various types of pressure measurements (relative, absolute, differential) and can be integrated into measurement and safety functions, with long-lasting performance suited to the long life cycles of nuclear facilities.
The FKR gauge pressure sensor – nuclear version strengthens Fuji Electric's nuclear range by meeting the needs of highly critical and high-pressure applications.
This pressure transmitter out in particular for:
Designed to ensure the safety and availability of nuclear facilities, the FKR pressure transmitter is fully in line with Fuji Electric's approach to securing critical processes over the long term.
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Safety
Reliability
Performance
A pressure transmitter in a safety function must offer much more than just reliable measurement.
It must be part of an overall safety strategy, guarantee long-term performance, and meet the specific constraints of critical industrial environments.
Fuji Electric teams assist manufacturers in selecting and implementing pressure measurement solutions that meet the safety and reliability requirements of their facilities.
Sylvain GRAVEROT
Nuclear qualification/certification engineer and safety expert
