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Ingress protection forms part of the process of determining the level of protection provided by equipment enclosures. The test methods and definitions of the ingress protection (IP) codes are covered under the BS EN 60529, 60598 and DIN40050:9 standards.

The protection offered by enclosures should include:

  • Protection of persons against access to hazardous parts.
  • Protection of equipment inside the enclosures to ingress of solid foreign objects.
  • Protection of equipment in the enclosures against harmful effects due to the ingress of water.

IP Ratings

The first digit of the IP rating represents the level of protection from solid ingress, and the second digit represents the level of protection from liquid ingress according the table below:

  IP Rating Level of Protection
Solid ingress      IP1X Protected against solid objects greater than 50mm diameter
IP2X Protected against solid objects greater than 12.5mm diameter
IP3X Protected against solid objects greater than 2.5mm diameter
IP4X Protected against solid objects greater than 1.0mm diameter
IP5X Dust protected (with or without vacuum applied to the product)
IP6X Dust tight (with a vacuum applied to the product)
Liquid ingress      IPX1 Protected against dripping water
IPX2 Protected against dripping water when tilted up to 15 degrees
IPX3 Protected against spraying water
IPX4 Protected against splashing water
IPX5 Protected against water jets
IPX6 Protected against powerful water jets
IPX7 Protected against the effects of temporary immersion in water
IPX8 Protected against the effects of continuous immersion in water
IPX9K Protected against high temperature and high pressure water jets

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