IEC60529 IP Water Ingress Protection Test Equipment for Luminaire and Electronic Appliance

1. Introduction

IP code is a system to indicates the protection provided by enclosure against access to hazard parts, ingress of solid foreign objects, ingress of water and so on. Refers to IEC60529, the second characteristic numerals indicates the degrees of protection against ingress of water, and show as numerals from 0 to 8. Omitting first characteristic numerals, the degrees of waterproof can be show as below:

2. Parameters

1). IPX1 Dripping water
Dripping water (vertically falling drops) shall have no harmful effect. Test duration: 10 minutes, equivalent to 1 mm rainfall per minute.

2). IPX2 Dripping water when tilted up to 15°
Vertically dripping water shall have no harmful effect when the enclosure is tilted at an angle up to 15° from its normal position. Test duration: 10 minutes, Water equivalent to 3 mm rainfall per minute.

3). IPX3 Spraying water
Water falling as a spray at any angle up to 60° from the vertical shall have no harmful effect. Test duration: 5 minutes, volume: 0.7 litres per minute, Pressure 80-100 kPa.

4) IPX4 Splashing of water
Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect. Test duration: 5 minutes, volume: 10 litres per minute, Pressure 80-100 kPa

5). IPX5 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, volume: 12.5 litres per minute, pressure 30 kPa at distance of 3 m.

6). IPX6 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, volume: 100 litres per minute, pressure 100 kPa at distance of 3 m.

7). IPX6-K Powerful water jets with increased pressure
Water projected in powerful jets (12.5 mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction, under elevated pressure, shall have no harmful effects. Test duration: at least 3 minutes, Water volume: 75 litres per minute, Pressure: 1000 kPa at distance of 3 m.

8). IPX7 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 most 1 m measured at bottom of device, and at least 15 cm measured at top of device.

9). IPX8 Immersion beyond 1 m
The equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water under conditions which shall be specified by the manufacturer. Normally, this will mean that the equipment is hermetically sealeed. However, with certain types of equipment, it can mean that water can enter but only in such a manner that it produces no harmful effects. Test duration: continuous immersion in water, Depth specified by manufacturer, generally up to 3 m.