Proposed changes in IEC standard of Ex motors: Ex nA motors are becoming Ex ec motors

The 3^rd edition of IEC 60079-15 [4], including requirement for Ex nA motors, was released in 2010. The maintenance team for IEC 60079-15[4] is currently in the early stages of the preparation of the 4^th edition. During this maintenance cycle, the requirements of Ex nA motors will be removed from IEC 60079-15[4] and integrated into the 5^th edition of IEC 60079-7[2] for increased safety with a new Level of Protection designated as “ec”, based on “e” for the type of protection and “c” for Equipment Protection Level (EPL) Gc.