Environmental impacts on electric & electronic devices can alter their life cycle negatively. Factors such as moisture, dust, temperature, altitude, vibrational impact, and gaseous & explosive environments are among those that determine whether the device lives up to its full life cycle. An important factor in this would be whether the device is designed to withstand the environmental impacts of its operating environment, considering one important factor – its Ingress Protection (IP) rating.

This is not to be confused with the malfunction of a device that has reached the end of its life cycle or planned obsolescence, as this refers to the practice by OEMs of designing products to beak easily or become obsolete in the short to mid-term. The plot is to drive the sale of new products, software upgrades, and sometimes accessories that aim to “extend” the device’s shelf, albeit temporarily.

Devices tend to malfunction or cease to function completely when water or dust penetrates the device. The device’s enclosure must be designed to withstand these, to ensure that it can maintain its operational requirements, and live up to its full life cycle. A device’s ability to withstand these is called an Ingress Protection (IP) rating, sometimes called an “international protection rating”, a standard set out by the International Electrotechnical Commission, under the international standard IEC 60529. Ingress Protection (IP) ratings measure how resistant or immune a device is against solids and liquids. The IP code consists of the letters IP (Ingress Protection), then followed by two digits, these can be a number or a letter of the alphabet. The higher the number after IP, the better the protection against foreign bodies.

The first numeral rates the enclosure’s protection against solid objects like dust and is rated on a scale from 0 = no protection to 6 = no dust ingress.

The 2^nd numeral rates the enclosure’s protection against liquids and is rated on a scale from 0 = no protection to 9 = high-pressure hot water from multiple angles.

Sometimes a number is replaced by an X, which indicates that the device’s enclosure is not yet rated for that specification, therefore ‘IPX6’ for instance, would mean that water projected in powerful jets against the enclosure from any direction would have no harmful effects on the device, while ‘IP6X’ would translate to no ingress of dust; and complete protection against contact (dust-tight). Numerous letters can be used after the IP rating, indicating more protection levels.

Below is a visual guide to understanding what each digit of a device’s enclosure IP rating indicates.

[Source: International Electrotechnical Commission]

A common example of these devices would be security cameras that are dust-tight and protected against waterjets (IP65) or protected against powerful waterjets (IP66) or protected against temporary immersion in water (IP67).  There are other standards that the device needs to conform to, such as the MIL-STDs, ATEX & SIL standards, for more specialized applications and environments, which we will cover in our upcoming articles.

Understanding your operational environment, it’s technical requirements and IP Ratings can help you choose the best device, with a suitable IP rating to ensure that the device meets its operational requirements and lives up to its full life cycle.

Shop our range of IP Rated devices here: www.osiris.co.za