Intrinsic safety, i.e. the technical property of a device or system, is a type of ignition protection, ensuring through special design principles that no unsafe condition occurs even in the event of a fault. This means that ignition processes can be avoided even in the event of serious device errors (short circuits and sparks in the device electronics, battery short circuits or mechanical damage such as falling from a great height, static charging of the housing). This can be achieved, for example, by means of predetermined breaking points, special power sources or other measures. In potentially explosive atmospheres, electrical and electronic devices of the intrinsic safety type of ignition protection are used for measurement and control technology tasks. Energy can also be stored in capacitances or inductances within the intrinsically safe circuit. This must also be taken into account when considering the intrinsically safe circuit.

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