Overview

This European Standard defines relevant requirements set out set out in Annex I of EU Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC which apply to machines that are first placed on the European Economic Area (EEA) market, in order to facilitate proof of compliance with these requirements. This document deals with all significant hazards, hazardous situations and events relevant to the design, installation, operation, maintenance, dismantling and disposal of process gas compressors and process gas compressor units, when they are used as intended and under conditions of misuse which are reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer. Separating requirements for process gas compressors from those for compressors for air, nitrogen and other inert gases was considered a practical move so that the requirements for one type of compressor could be changed without affecting the complete standard. This part of EN 1012 includes under the general term compressor units those machines which comprise: - the compressor; - a drive system including the prime mover; - any component or device supplied which is necessary for operation. This part of EN 1012 is not applicable to compressors which are manufactured before the date of publication of this document by CEN. The requirements of this standard do not take into account the interaction between the compressor/compressor unit and other processes carried out on site. Excluded are: - refrigerant compressors used in refrigerating systems or heat pumps for which the safety requirements are given in EN 60335-2-34 or EN 12693; - the specification of performance levels and/or safety integrity levels for safety related parts of control systems. Performance levels and/or safety integrity levels are an important aspect of compressor design and should be determined by the manufacturer and the user based on a risk assessment. If common requirements for functional safety would be applied to all process compressors, the variety in the application of process compressors may cause significantly different levels of residual risk. Therefore, in addition to the requirements of this standard, the application of risk assessment may be required for safety related control systems in the case of particular applications to specify performance levels and/or safety integrity levels for related aspects of functional safety. Informative Annex C has been included to provide guidance on risk assessment for related aspects of functional safety, including the determination of safety integrity levels and/or performance levels. The manufacturer of the compressor is responsible for carrying out such a risk assessment and applying appropriate preventive measures. These tasks are outside the scope of this standard. This standard contains the German version of EN 1012-3:2013 which has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 232 "Compressors, vacuum pumps and their systems" at the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). The national interests during the preparation are represented by Committee NA 060-08-16 AA "Luftkompressoren" ("Air compressors") at the Standards Committee Mechanical Engineering (NAM) at DIN.

Document: references other documents

Responsible national committee

NA 060-08-11 AA - Process compressors  

Responsible european committee

CEN/TC 232 - Compressors, vacuum pumps and their systems