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Design of explosion-proof areas in industrial clean workshops
2026/1/27
I. Key Points for Design of Explosion-proof Areas
In terms of the overall explosion-proof design of industrial clean workshops, if the production conditions permit, it is advisable to design them as single-story buildings. For areas or rooms with explosion hazards, they should be placed as much as possible on the exterior walls of the single-story building. This can be achieved by installing lightweight explosion-proof exterior walls or roofs, which will enable effective explosion venting during an explosion.
Regarding the anti-explosion measures for industrial clean workshops, since industrial workshops have numerous functions, the main structure of the workshop usually adopts reinforced concrete frame structure. To ensure that the impact of an explosion can be minimized when an explosion occurs, explosion-prone workshops or areas within the workshop with explosion risks should be equipped with pressure relief facilities. Thus, if an explosion accident occurs, the pressure can be rapidly reduced, and the reinforced concrete frame structure can effectively resist the damage caused by the explosion, ensuring the safety of the entire workshop and enabling the resumption of production as soon as possible.
II. Design Practices for Explosion-proof Areas
Before conducting the floor plan design of an industrial cleanroom, it is necessary to fully consider whether each process flow may generate flammable gases, flammable dust, or fibers, and to calculate their concentrations. Based on this, determine whether an explosion-proof area needs to be set up in the cleanroom and calculate the area of the explosion-proof area. Generally, the layout of the industrial cleanroom, pipeline arrangement, functional zoning, interior decoration, etc. will be re-designed after the civil engineering is completed. However, due to the special requirements of explosion-proof areas for load-bearing structures and pressure relief facilities (explosion-proof walls, types of explosion-proof structures, connection between explosion-proof areas and non-explosion-proof areas, direction and area of pressure relief surfaces in explosion-proof areas, etc.), this content should be taken into account in the initial design. This is mainly for the following considerations.
Generally, only some of the processes in industrial clean workshops need to be located in the explosion-proof area. An anti-explosion wall should be set up between the explosion-proof area and the non-explosion-proof area. In the anti-explosion wall, no ventilation holes should be reserved, and door and window structures should be avoided as much as possible. If there are special requirements for setting doors and windows during actual use, anti-explosion doors and windows should be used and the anti-explosion wall should not be used as a load-bearing wall.
Secondly, considering the structural form of the factory building, if it is not taken into account during the initial design, during the second design phase after the completion of the civil engineering work, it is very likely to result in rework and repeated investment.
Finally, it is worth noting that although the current regulations require that equipment with explosion hazards should be arranged away from the main load-bearing components such as beams and columns of the factory building, due to the influence of various factors such as equipment size, factory area, and air conditioning system load pressure, the implementation is rather difficult in actual engineering operations. Therefore, in the initial design, the explosion-proof performance of the main load-bearing structures in the explosion-proof area can be appropriately enhanced.
In the design of the explosion-proof area, the area of the explosion-proof zone should also be determined based on the process flow and related equipment dimensions, as well as the number of operators that need to be placed in the explosion-proof zone. When determining the area of the explosion-proof zone, the process conditions, equipment dimensions, and the number of operators should be fully considered.
It is necessary to note the specific differences of various processes, such as grinding, sieving, tablet pressing, and drying. These processes have the characteristics of high dust generation and high noise. Considering the specific characteristics of this category of processes, in order to facilitate dust removal and management, equipment with high dust generation and noise can be grouped together. If these processes cannot be operated in a fully enclosed manner, in addition to designing necessary dust collection and dust removal devices, to prevent noise and dust from spreading to the outside, a pre-room needs to be added.
One more point to note when determining the area is that, one of the biggest differences between the explosion-proof area and the non-explosion-proof area is that no return air equipment or pipelines are required. Only air exhaust, smoke exhaust, dust removal, and air supply equipment and pipelines need to be set up. Moreover, the exhaust pipelines of the explosion-proof area do not connect with those of other areas. The explosion-proof area needs to have a separate explosion-proof exhaust fan box.
In order to minimize the impact of the exhaust ducts on the floor layout, the common practice is that the exhaust vertical pipes in the clean area are designed to be placed within the partition walls, and then connected by the horizontal pipes in the technical interlayer to be discharged outdoors. This approach requires that when planning the floor layout, sufficient consideration should be given to the reserved positions and areas of the partition walls. In terms of the supply air ducts, only the supply air outlets need to be of explosion-proof type, while other aspects are generally consistent with those of non-explosion-proof areas. The common practice is to directly connect and install the explosion-proof supply air outlets with high-efficiency filters within the ceiling from the horizontal pipes in the technical interlayer to achieve the purpose of supply air.
Although the shape of the explosion-proof area is preferably a regular square, there are not only this one layout method. The shape of the explosion-proof area also needs to be determined based on the smoothness of the process flow within the explosion-proof area and that of the non-explosion-proof area. It is necessary to avoid the confusion of people and materials flow caused by the setting of the explosion-proof area and the disorder of the traffic flow lines in the clean workshop, so as not to affect the production environment within the clean workshop.
Due to the special nature of the production environment in the clean workshop, usually when connecting the explosion-proof area and the non-explosion-proof area, it is not possible to use the method of opening a door on the exterior wall, or using corridors or balconies to connect the two areas. At this time, the door canopy is a mandatory requirement as stipulated by the regulations. When setting it up, it is necessary to note that the two doors of the door canopy should be set apart.
In the less clean-level clean areas, the size of the door vestibules can be appropriately increased. This way, when people and materials pass through the vestibules simultaneously, the mutual influence can be minimized. Although in the design of clean workshops, "the flow of people and materials do not intersect" appears frequently in various standards and regulations, it does not mean that the flow of people and materials cannot intersect at all. Moreover, based on the current production conditions and equipment conditions, it is impossible for all production processes to reach the level of complete enclosure, complete mechanization, and complete pipeline transportation. Some processes still require manual operation, such as the transportation and transfer of materials, intermediates, and inner packaging materials, which are still completed by manual operation. Therefore, when designing, do not fall into the misunderstanding that "the flow of people and materials do not intersect". However, it is necessary to insist that the operators entering the clean area and the materials cannot share the same entrance.
