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Choosing IP66, IP67 and IP69K Ratings
IP rating is a global standardized system that indicates how well your gear is protected from dust, solid objects, water, etc. The IP rating system uses two numbers and sometimes letters to tell us about a system's protection level. The first number shows how well it blocks solid objects, from finger to dust. The second number shows its water resistance, from droplets to powerful jets.
| Solid Object Blocking (First digit) | Water Resistance (Second digit) | ||
| 1 | Protect against solid > 50mm (A hand) | 1 | Protect against vertically falling droplets |
| 2 | Protect against solid > 12mm(A finger) | 2 | Protect against droplets tilled up to 15 degrees |
| 3 | Protect against solid > 2.5mm (A cable) | 3 | Protect against water spray tilled up to 60 degrees |
| 4 | Protect against solid > 1mm (A wire) | 4 | Protect against water splashes from all directions |
| 5 | Limited protection against incidental dust (does not affect device operations) | 5 | Protect against low pressure jets |
| 6 | Full protection against dust | 6 | Protect against high-pressure jets |
| 7 | Protect against full immersion up to 1m water for 30mins | ||
| 8 | Protect against full immersion > 1m for long periods | ||
| 9 | Full protection against close-range high-pressure, high-temperature water jets | ||
With AI computing shifting to the edge, the need for IP-rated capability have also increased, and can be useful for applications such as:
The rating system indicates a device's ability of thriving in corresponding IP-rated environments for reliable operations, data protection and efficiency improvement.
The IP66 rating provides a higher level of water resistance compared to IP65, making it more suitable for environments where high-pressure water jets are used, such as wash-downs with powerful hoses. This ensures that the systems or computers at the edge remains operational and reliable even in harsh industrial conditions, such as food production lines.
The IP67 rating offers superior protection by ensuring that systems or computers are not only resistant to dust and solid particles but can also withstand immersion in water up to 1 meter deep for 30 minutes. This makes IP67-rated devices ideal for environments where equipment might be exposed to temporary submersion.
The IP69K is the highest rating for rugged, high-performance systems. Systems are tested with high-pressure 80°C water jets sprayed from different angles for 3 minutes. The letter K is not included in the IEC 60529 standard from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), but it appears in the German standard DIN 40050-9. This standard expands upon IEC 60529 by introducing the IP69K rating, designed for high-pressure, high-temperature washdown environments.
Initially developed for heavy-duty vehicles like cement mixers that undergo frequent cleaning with high pressure hose, the IP69K rating is also applicable in industries such as food processing and other sectors where stringent hygiene and cleanliness are crucial.
Neousys Technology offers IP rated waterproof computers ranging from IP69K down to IP66. The computers feature powerful processing capabilities with advanced thermal management, and reinforced stainless-steel chassis with M12 connectors to ensure uninterrupted operation in extreme temperatures ranging from -40°C to 70°C. Powered by Intel® Core™ processors and supported NVIDIA® GPUs, or NVIDIA Jetson system-on-module, they deliver significant inference performance for AI applications in the most demanding environments.