PTI provides Water Ingress testing, which is usually the second part of ingress protection (IP) specified in IEC 60529. The second characteristic numeral (such as IPx4) describes the degree of protection against ingress of water with harmful effects.
Table 1: Brief Explanation of IP Code
IP Code | Description | |
Water Ingress | IP x0 | Non-protected |
IP x1 | Protected against vertically dropping water drops | |
IP x2 | Protected against vertically dropping water drops, when enclosure is tilted up to 15° | |
IP x3 | Protected against spraying water | |
IP x4 | Protected against splashing water | |
IP x5 | Protected against water jets | |
IP x6 | Protected against powerful water jets | |
IP x7 | Protected against the effects of temporary immersion in water | |
IP x8 | Protected against the effects of continuous immersion in water | |
Ingress of Solid Foreign Objects | IP 0x | Non-protected |
IP 1x | Protected against solid foreign objects of 50mmØ and greater | |
IP 2x | Protected against solid foreign objects of 12.5mmØ and greater | |
IP 3x | Protected against solid foreign objects of 2.5mmØ and greater | |
IP 4x | Protected against solid foreign objects of 2.5mmØ and greater | |
IP 5x | Dust protected | |
IP 6x | Dust tight |
Table 2: Brief Comparison between IP Code and NEMA 250 Rating
Specification | |||
IEC 60529 | NEMA 250 | ||
Standard developed by | International Electro technical Commission | National Electrical Manufacturers Association (in US) | |
Ratings | IP0x~IP6x, IPx0~IPx8 | Type 1~6, 12, 13, 3R, 3S, 4X, 6P, 12K | |
Product standard | No | Yes | |
Applicable to | Any enclosure | Metal or polymeric enclosure for electrical equipment (1000V max) | |
Test protection against | Ingress of solid objects | Covered | Covered |
Ingress of water | Covered | Covered | |
Corrosion | Not covered | Covered | |
Construction requirement | |||
Door and cover securement | |||
Coolant effects | |||
Effect of icing | |||
Gasket aging and oil resistance | |||
Translated to other rating? | CANNOT be converted to NEMA type rating | Only in some cases, such as NEMA Type 2 → IP 22 NEMA Type 3, 3S → IP 55 NEMA Type 4, 4X → IP 66 |