How often do you buy a product such as a smartphone or, in our case, a fan, and you found yourselves in front of the words “IP protection degree…” followed by two numbers and sometimes letters?
This means that the electrical equipment we purchased was tested by the manufacturer and has shown resistance characteristics about some random events.
The International Protection or IP protection class in electrical engineering is therefore a code that summarizes the level of protection of an electrical device to the contact with other objects, with human body or with water.
We therefore want to summarize the most common different types of protection degree.
Normally two digits follows the acronym IP.
The first number indicates protection against access of solid and contact with dangerous parts, such as the access with a finger to parts subject to electrical voltage, or tampering through with screwdrivers or pencils, intentional or accidental.
0 = no protection
1 = protected against solid bodies larger than 50 mm, such as the back of a hand
2 = Protected against solid bodies larger than 12 mm, such as a finger
3 = Protected against solid objects greater than 2.5 mm, for example, a screwdriver
4 = Protected against solid bodies larger than 1 mm, as a wire or paper clip
5 = Protected against dust or a thin wire
6 = totally protected against dust
The second figure, combined with the first, indicates the protection against access of liquids.
0 = not protected
1 = protected against vertically falling drops of water
2 = protected from dripping water, when tilted up to 15°
3 = protected from rain
4 = Protected against splashing
5 = Protected against water jets
6 = Protected against heavy seas
7 = Protected against temporary immersion
8 = protected from continuous immersion
The most common…
IP20 = is the minimum required for electrical accessories for use in closed environments, such as a standard compact fan
IP 22 = think about the power supply…
IP 40 = the classic example is that of the common electrical switches: there is free to enter, even with a wire or a paper clip, but you would never bathe them!
IP 55 = are devices able to resist dust and water jets, but do not bear the dive. Applies to certain models of smartphones, or our series Esmeris compact fans, used in windows fridge to withstand humidity caused by the cooling system
IP 56 = is used in the food industry, as our Virdis group filter with steel cover, where the cover protects the filter during washing
IP 64 = as for example, our Lumeis signal towers, used to indicate the machines operation in production lines: resistant to dust and splashing water
IP 65 = these objects are totally protected against dust and water jets, as some cabinets or other accessories and equipment that are used in the kitchen
IP 66 = Protected against dust and heavy seas. It’s quite common in security surveillance cameras that operate in outdoor spaces
IP 67 = some manufacturers of mobile phones have designed their equipment to be able to pass these tests related to dust and immersion… and they did!