In modern life, there are many areas of human activity that require the use of various electronic devices, but the conditions in which they will be used require additional protection from all kinds of adverse factors. Therefore, technologists from various industrial companies are developing devices that would have an increased degree of protection against the penetration of harmful elements into the device.
There are different degrees of protection against various factors. Let's deal with only one of them. This is IPX7 - the degree of protection of the device from moisture.
There is a gradation of moisture protection of the device, and IPX7 is a designation of one of the highest degrees of protection.
IP: classification of degrees of protection
To describe the degrees of protection of various devices, an international classification was developed that received a designation consisting of two letters: IP, which designate the system itself. As a rule, after them they put also 2 digits indicating the degree of security of the device.
Each device manufactured by the industry has a certain degree of protection against extraneous influences, which can be referred to as IPxx, where instead of each x numbers are put that determine the security of the device. Moreover, the first of them indicates the safety of the device from foreign objects. The highest degree of security in this case is the sixth. It shows that the device is protected from dust.
The second digit always indicates the protection of the device from moisture. For example, if the designation on the product looks like IPX7, its degree of protection against moisture will be almost maximum, but the safety against penetration of solid foreign objects (sand, dust, etc.) is not regulated.
Let's take a closer look at protecting the device from moisture.
Degree of protection against moisture
In total, the classification has eight degrees of protection against moisture. Moreover, IPX7 is the second degree of protection in quality. If you look at the table that defines the parameters of these steps, it is easy to notice how the last two of these are different from each other. So, if the degree of protection is IPX7, the decoding of this designation says that the device can fall under water for a short period without consequences, to a depth of one meter.
To a higher degree of safety will belong devices that continue to operate after being under water for half an hour or longer, at a depth of more than one meter. It should be noted that in the modern world there are many devices that need a degree of protection against IPX7 water, but of all of them we will consider only one. These are phones that meet this standard.
Anti-moisture Phones
Not so long ago, phones were the main gadgets with a degree of protection designated as IPX7. Most often they were used in places where contact with moisture was constant. Such devices were quite expensive. And one of their advantages was the ability to continue working even after a brief spill into the water at a shallow depth.
It's no secret that often the main reason for selling used phones is that they are already in the water and are starting to fail. Usually they are called drowned, since such gadgets are not subject to repair. But recently, some phone manufacturers have not only switched to the production of waterproof phones, but have also begun to actively develop the market of smartphones with IPX7 code. The degree of protection of this level is especially widely used in the devices of Motorola and Apple.
Ways to achieve enhanced moisture protection
Modern technologies are already at a level when the IPX7 class (degree of protection of the phone) is achieved without compromising the appearance of the device. After all, not so long ago, a phone protected by the IP67 standard could be easily identified by a unique case that retains the gadget. And modern smartphones are practically no different from their counterparts, which have a lower degree of protection. In addition, Apple announced that all watch models released by it have a degree of protection IP67. Therefore, any owner of such an apparatus can even fearlessly take a shower in them. But, of course, not all users of these products decide on such an experiment, since the cost of such smart watches exceeds four hundred dollars.
IPX7 degree of application in other technical fields
Telephony is not the only area in which this standard is applied. Most of the equipment with this degree of protection is used in the navy, regardless of whether it is civilian or military. Also, rescuers working in extreme conditions are equipped with such devices. And of course, scientific research cannot do without such devices. Therefore, in the future, technologists will work to increase the degree of protection of various equipment.