HMi Elements continues to demonstrate its innovative prowess, by providing the market with a unique, fully modular, fully certified, Zone 1 HMI, which is maintainable in the field.

Achieving modularity whilst complying with the demanding ATEX/IECEx/AEX certification requirements wasn’t easy. The HMi Elements R&D team had to deploy all their ingenuity, resourcefulness and experience to get there. A journey that took over two and a half years, with significant investment.

The process required the design of numerous unique proprietary discrete modules one of which is an ingenious cable configuration, allocated part number SA1929.

The SA1929 cable loom

This hand-crafted cable loom connects the rear of the 490-Z1 to the front, and carries many types of voltages, signals and high-speed video data. It cannot allow cross talk, it must comply with onerous Hazloc regulations, requiring full dual redundancy as part of the certification requirements.

Given the relatively small volumes, the loom has to be constructed by hand, requiring precise soldering skills and patience, with each one taking over four hours to build. Followed then by close scrutiny in the electronics inspection and test department.

The SA1929 is cable looming brought to new heights; it even looks impressive. Just one small part of the whole 490-Z1, delivering the very best hazardous area technology to the oil and gas industry.

The 490-Z1 will create significant cost savings for businesses when units may require maintenance which can now be done in the field. The modular design means massively reduced downtime and shipping costs, making this one of HMi Elements most sustainable products.

Howard Gould, CEO of HMi Elements, said: “I am incredibly proud of the team for our latest Zone 1 product providing even more options to our growing user base.

“We always strive to create the highest-quality products that will make our customers’ lives easier and help them to operate with ease in their hazardous environments."

Roy Huddart, a development engineer at HMi Elements who has worked on the 490 added: “It’s great to see the 490 finally Certified and ready for sale!”

 To learn more about the SA1929 story watch video here: