March 1999  Control
Engineering
ONLINE
EXTRA

IEC 529/IP
Environmental
Ratings

Complied by Rittal
http://www.rittal.com/

The degree of
protection provided by an enclosure is
indicated by the IP code in the following
way: I P 2
3
First
characteristic numeral - e.g. protection
against solid foreign objects of 12.5mm
diameter and greater
Second
characteristic numeral - e.g.
protected against spraying water

Degrees of
Protection Against Solid
Objects

Description

Definition

First Characteristic
Numeral

Non-protected

0

Protected against
solid foreign objects of 50mm diameter and
greater

The
object probe, sphere of 50mm
diameter shall not fully
penetrate

1

Protected against
solid foreign objects of 12.5mm diameter and
greater

The
object probe, sphere of 12.5mm
diameter shall not fully
penetrate

2

Protected against
solid foreign objects of 2.5mm diameter and
greater

The
object probe, sphere of 2.5mm
diameter shall not penetrate at
all

3

Protected against
solid foreign objects of 1.0mm diameter and
greater

The
object probe, sphere of 1.0mm
diameter shall not
penetrate

4

Dust
protected

Ingress
of dust is not totally
prevented, but dust shall not
penetrate in a quiantity to interfere with satisfactory
operation of the apparatus or to
impair safety

5

Dust
tight

No
ingress of dust

6

Degrees of
Protection Against Water

Second
characteristic numeral

Description

Definition

0

No
protection

1

Protected against
vertically falling water drops

Vertically falling
water drops shall have no harmful
effects

2

Protected against
vertically falling water drops when enclosure
tilted up to 15 degrees

Vertically falling
water drops shall have no harmful effects when
the enclosure is tilted at any angle up to
15 degrees on either side of the
vertical axis

3

Protected against
spraying water

Water
sprayed at an angle up to 60
degreed on either side of the
vertical axis shall have no harmful
effects

4

Protected against
splashing water

Water
splashed against the enclosure from
any direction shall have no
harmful effects

5

Protected against
water jets

Water
projected in jets against the
enclosure from any direction
shall have no harmful effects

6

Protected against
powerful water jets

Water
projected in powerful water jets
against the enclosure from any
direction shall have no harmful
effects

7

Protected against
the effects of temporary immersion in
water

Ingress
of water in quantities causing
harmful effects shall not be
possible when the enclosure is continuously immersed in
water under standardized
conditions of pressure and
time

8

Protected against
the effects of continuous immersion in
water

Ingress
of water in quantities causing
harmful effects shall not be
possible when the enclosure is continuously immersed in
water under  conditions
which shall be agreed between
manufacturer and user but which are more severe
than for numeral
7

NEMA Type
rating

UL Type
rating

CSA Type
rating

Apprx. IEC/IP
classification

1

1

1

IP23

2

2

2

IP30

3

3

3

IP64

3R

3R

3R

IP32

4

4

4

IP66

4X

4X

4X

IP66

6

6

6

IP67

12

12

12

IP55

13

13

13

IP65

Control Engineering
- March
1999

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2000 Cahners Business Information, a
division of the Reed
Elsevier plc group

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