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Design of a set-up for testing dust and water tightness according to IP protection.

Design of a set-up for testing dust and water tightness according to IP protection.

What was the challenge or problem to solve?

Our client needed to test the degree of protection of one of its products against dust and water. For this test to be reliable, it had to be carried out according to IP (Ingress Protection), an international standard that measures the protection levels of a device against these elements.

Design of a set-up for testing dust and water tightness according to IP protection.
Therefore, INFINITIA designed the necessary setup and carried out the relevant watertightness tests to obtain IP certification. Furthermore, in this case, we faced the additional difficulty that the volume and weight of the parts to be used was high, which made their handling difficult.
After conducting the dust and water tightness tests, it was verified that neither dust nor water had entered the test objects and therefore the customer was able to give his product the corresponding IP certification.

Design of a set-up for testing dust and water tightness according to IP protection.
How was it addressed or what was the solution?

In order to correctly carry out the watertightness tests requested by the client, a survey of the standard was carried out. This preliminary study made it possible to determine the conditions and technical specifications relating to the IP degree of protection. For the water penetration test, a specific nozzle and a specific water flow rate had to be used; on the other hand, for the dust penetration test, a continuous flow of particles of a certain size had to be achieved, while vacuum pressure was applied to the part.

To meet these requirements, our Product Development team designed and manufactured the tooling to be used in the tests. Using professional CAD software and a 3D printer with DLP technology, the nozzle to be used in the water penetration test was quickly produced.

In order to control the parameters, the high-tech equipment of our laboratory was used. Specifically, we used a flow meter, with which we checked the flow rate required for the water penetration test, and a vacuum gauge, with which we checked the vacuum pressure applied to the part.

Once the setup had been designed and the protocols of the standard for water and dust penetration tests had been established, the tests were carried out. After carrying out the tests, it was observed that neither dust nor water had entered the inside of the parts, and therefore, they complied with the necessary degree of protection.