IP - Ingress Protection Rating

IP - Ingress Protection rating is used to specify environmental protection - electrical enclosure - of Electrical Equipment

Ingress Protection (IP) ratings are developed by the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and are most heavily used in Europe and Asia, with some adherents in North America as well. 

The IP rating normally has two (or three) numbers:

Ø  A two-digit number established by the International Electro Technical Commission, is used to provide an Ingress Protection rating to a piece of electronic equipment or to an enclosure for electronic equipment.

Ø  The protection class after EN60529 are indicated by short symbols that consist of the two code letters IP and a code numeral for the amount of the protection.

IP TABLE:

IP..	First digit: Ingress of solid objects	Second digit: Ingress of liquids
0	No protection	No protection
1	Protected against solid objects over 50mm e.g. hands, large tools.	Protected against vertically falling drops of water or condensation.
2	Protected against solid objects over 12.5mm e.g. hands, large tools.	Protected against falling drops of water, if the case is disposed up to 15 from vertical.
3	Protected against solid objects over 2.5mm e.g. wire, small tools.	Protected against sprays of water from any direction, even if the case is disposed up to 60from vertical.
4	Protected against solid objects over 1.0mm e.g. wires.	Protected against splash water from any direction.
5	Limited protection against dust ingress. (no harmful deposit)	Protected against low pressure water jets from any direction. Limited ingress permitted.
6	Totally protected against dust ingress.	Protected against high pressure water jets from any direction. Limited ingress permitted.
7	N/A	Protected against short periods of immersion in water.
8	N/A	Protected against long, durable periods of immersion in water.
9k	N/A	Protected against close-range high pressure, high temperature spray downs.

Ø  For enclosures, the typical “waterproof” IP ratings are IP67, IP66 and IP65 enclosures.  The chart below gives the specifics of what these ratings mean and how they are measured.

         

IP Rating	Protection	Description	Test Method
IP65 Enclosures	Able to protect against water jets	Water projected by a nozzle (6.3 mm) against enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects.	Test duration: at least 15 minutes
			Water volume: 12.5 litres per minute
			Pressure: 30 kPa at distance of 3 m
IP66 Enclosures	Able to protect against powerful water jets	Water projected in powerful jets (12.5 mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects.	Test duration: at least 3 minutes
			Water volume: 100 litres per minute
			Pressure: 100 kPa at distance of 3 m
IP67 Enclsoures	Able to protect against Immersion up to 1 m	Ingress of water in harmful quantity shall not be possible when the enclosure is immersed in water under defined conditions of pressure and time (up to 1 m of submersion).	Test duration: 30 minutes
			Immersion at depth of at least 1 m measured at bottom of device, and at least 15 cm measured at top of device