IEC 60529 Ingress Protection Expertise

CVG Strategy can provide expertise in ingress protection design and test and evaluation.  We can also provide EZ Test Plans for Ingress Testing.

An international committee the International Electrotechnical Commission defined this standard originally in 1998. The US ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association) are members of IEC (IEC 60529) and contributed to its development.

This standard is typically applied to commercial products and their ability to keep the environment from interfering with the operation of a product. Ratings are defined by the letters IP followed by two digits and an optional letter. As defined in international standard IEC 60529, it classifies the degrees of protection provided against the intrusion of solid objects (including body parts like hands and fingers), dust, accidental contact, and water in electrical enclosures. The standard aims to provide users more detailed information than vague marketing terms such as waterproof.

The IP Code, International Protection Marking, IEC 60529, sometimes interpreted as Ingress Protection Marking, classifies and rates the degree of protection provided against intrusion (body parts such as hands and fingers), dust, accidental contact, and water by mechanical casings and electrical enclosures. It is published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The equivalent British standard is EN 60529.

The standard aims to provide users more detailed information than vague marketing terms such as waterproof. The digits (characteristic numerals) indicate conformity with the conditions summarized in the tables below. Where there is no data available to specify a protection rating with regard to one of the criteria, the digit is replaced with the letter X. The digit 0 is used where no protection is provided.

A rating of X for one or more of the protection criteria can be erroneously misinterpreted as “no protection”. To illustrate, a piece of electronic equipment rated IPX7 will almost certainly demonstrate a robust resistance to the ingress of particles, even though a rating for ingress of solids hasn’t been formally assigned. Hence, an X designation shouldn’t be automatically misconstrued as a lack of protection.

For example, a cellular phone rated at IP58 is “dust resistant” and can be “immersed in 1.5 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes”. Similarly, an electrical socket rated IP22 is protected against insertion of fingers and will not be damaged or become unsafe during a specified test in which it is exposed to vertically or nearly vertically dripping water. IP22 or 2X are typical minimum requirements for the design of electrical accessories for indoor use.

The ratings for water ingress are not cumulative beyond IPX6. A device which is compliant with IPX7, covering immersion in water, need not be compliant with IPX5 or IPX6, covering exposure to water jets. A device which meets both tests is indicated by listing both tests separated by a slash, e.g. IPX5/IPX7.

There are no hyphens in a genuine IP code. IPX-8 (for example) is thus a false IP code.

By 2013, IEC 60529 was updated to include the IPX9 water ingress test. This test appears to be identical to the IP69K test from DIN 40050-9.

CVG Strategy’s experts have many years of experience in enclosure design, protection of electronics as well as coatings, adhesives and gaskets. This experience with a wide variety of sizes and types of protection enables us to add value and to find solutions quickly. In addition, our ability to manage the testing and develop appropriate test plans ensures that the results are meaningful and programs are efficiently executed.

NEMA vs. IEC 60529

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) in the United States also publishes protection ratings for enclosures similar to the IP rating system published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).  NEMA however, also dictates other product features not addressed by IP codes, such as corrosion resistance, gasket aging, and construction practices. 

For this reason while it is possible to map IP Codes to NEMA ratings that satisfy or exceed the IP Code criteria, it is not possible to map NEMA ratings to IEC 60529 IP codes, as the IP Code does not mandate the additional requirements.

North American enclosure rating systems are defined in NEMA 250, UL 50 (Underwriters Laboratories), UL 508, and CSA C22.2 No. 94 (Canadian Standards Association).