Water-Wash, Process-Sealed, IP67 Switch Seal Rating

Water-Wash, Process-Sealed, IP67 Switch Seal Rating

Definition of IP Codes (Ingress Protection):
IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 60529 Standards document specifies an international Classification system for the sealing effectiveness of enclosures of electrical equipment against the “Intrusion into the equipment of foreign bodies and moisture”.

1.  Degrees of Protection – First Digit
6      Dust-tight

2.  Degrees of Protection – Second Digit
7     Protection against effects of immersion from 15cm to 1m (6″ to 40″).

Based on the above, our standard for defining a “process-sealed” switch is “sealed to meet the minimum requirements of IP-67”.  

This means that a switch rated to IP-67 is “Dust-tight” and will pass a water submersion test at 40″ (1m), for up to 30 minutes.

Due to the variables encountered in actual water-wash machine processing, IP67 does not necessarily insure that water entry into the switch cannot occur. 

The water-wash pressures and air-knife drying that occurs in modern pcb machine-washing can exceed the seal requirements of the IP-67 rating. 

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