What Is Ingress Protection, Protection Class?
Founded in 1906, the main task of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is to develop international standards for electrical and electronic technologies. The Turkish Standards Institute from Turkey is also a member of the sub-committees of this institution on many issues and participates in many activities.
The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (Comité Européen de Normalization de Electrotechnique, CENELEC) was established in Belgium in 1973 and prepares European Union standards for the field of electrical and electrotechnics. Turkey is a member of this committee and is among the top five countries in terms of voting weight. It is entitled to the same weight as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy (29 votes). While an electrical and electrotechnical standard is set in the European Union countries, our country has a serious say.
IP (Ingress Protection) is the international protection classification developed by these committees and is a coding system that expresses how resistant electrical, electronic and mechanical devices are to dust, water or external impacts. IP protection levels have been developed primarily to determine the environmental resistance of electrical and electronic products.
What are IP Ingress Protection, Protection Class Levels?
The levels of protection are determined depending on the application of any electrical or electronic product, for example whether it will be used inside or outside the building.
IP Ingress Protection, protection class levels, consists of three digits to determine the endurance level of the device, but mostly two-digit coding is used.
- The first step refers to the resistance of the electrical or electronic product to solids.
- The second step refers to the resistance of the product to liquids.
- The third step, which is not commonly used, refers to the product's resistance to mechanical influences (not used because it is not included in the IEC 60529 standard).
Now let's look at what each step means:
The first step of the IP Ingress Protection coding, ie the level of protection of the electrical or electronic product against solid objects and materials, is determined as follows:
- 0 = Indicates that there is no protection.
- 1 = Indicates that the product is protected against the impact of solid objects with a diameter greater than 50 mm (for example, accidentally touching the product by hand has no effect).
- 2 = Indicates that the product is protected against the impact of solid objects with a diameter greater than 12 mm (eg touching the product with fingers does not have any effect).
- 3 = Indicates that the product is protected against the impact of solid objects with a diameter greater than 2,5 mm (for example, touching the product with a handpiece, wire or cable has no effect).
- 4 = Indicates that the product is protected against the impact of solid objects with a diameter greater than 1 mm (for example, touching the product with a handpiece, fine wire or cable has no effect).
- 5 = Indicates that the product has limited protection against dust (for example, excessive dust accumulation may damage the operation of the product).
- 6 = Indicates that the product is fully protected against dust (means the product is dustproof).
The second step of the IP Ingress Protection coding, ie the level of protection of the electrical or electronic product against liquids, is determined as follows:
- 0 = Indicates that there is no protection.
- 1 = Indicates that the product is protected against vertically dripping water.
- 2 = Indicates that the product is protected against water coming from an 15 degree vertical angle.
- 3 = Indicates that the product is protected against water coming at a vertical angle up to 60 degrees.
- 4 = Indicates that the product is protected against water from all directions and angles (ie the product offers limited protection).
- 5 = Indicates that the product is protected against low pressure water from all sides and angles (ie the product offers limited protection).
- 6 = Indicates that the product is protected against high pressure water.
- 7 = Indicates that the product is protected against immersion in water between 15 cm and 1 m.
- 8 = Indicates that the product is protected against prolonged immersion.
The third step of the IP Ingress Protection coding, ie the electrical or electronic product's level of protection against mechanical influences, is determined as follows:
- 0 = Indicates that there is no protection.
- 1 = Indicates that the product is protected against a mechanical force of 0,225 joules (when an object weighing 150 grams falls from 15 cm).
- 2 = Indicates that the product is protected against a mechanical force of 0,375 joules (when an object weighing 250 grams falls from 15 cm).
- 3 = Indicates that the product is protected against a mechanical force of 0,5 joules (when an object weighing 250 grams falls from 20 cm).
- 4 = Indicates that the product is protected against a mechanical force of 2 joules (when an object weighing 500 grams falls from 40 cm).
- 5 = Indicates that the product is protected against a mechanical force of 6 joules (when an object weighing 1500 grams falls from 40 cm).
- 6 = Indicates that the product is protected against a mechanical force of 20 joules (when an object weighing 5000 grams falls from 40 cm).
If, for example, a product has an IP21 code, it is understood that this product is not affected by both the impact of solid objects larger than 12 mm and also by the droplets of water dripping vertically on it.
What are IP Ingress Protection Tests?
Protection class levels are determined by IP Ingress Protection, protection class tests to be performed by authorized test and inspection organizations. These codes are also a detailed description for consumers.
During these tests, the legal regulations in force and the standards announced by local and foreign organizations are taken into consideration. Here are a few of the standards that are based on:
- TS EN 60529 Degree of protection provided by enclosures (IP code)
- TS 3033 EN 60529 The degree of protection provided by enclosures (IP code) (in electrical equipment)
