When we talk about resistance in the enclosure of electrical materials (light fittings in our case), as a complement to the IP rating,which we discussed in the September’s technical post, we’re also referring to the IK rating for resistance to impacts on the enclosures of electrical materials. For this reason, this technical post, as a supplement to our previous post, will be discussing this characteristic. Furthermore, as mentioned in the previous article, we’ll try to explain (in practical terms) aspects you should consider when interpreting it, alongside its technical explanation.
An IK rating is the parameter that allows us to classify electrical materials with a rated voltage that does not exceed 72.5 kW, according to their level of resistance to impacts provided by their enclosures.
This classification of the IK rating is provided in the standard IEC 62262:2002 Degrees of protection provided by enclosures against external mechanical impacts (IK Code), from which the following table has been extrapolated.
Using a light fitting (electrical equipment) classified as IK04 as an example, we can say that:
- – The light fitting will have a resistance to impacts of up to 0.50 J.
Important aspects to consider in luminaires:
- The IK rating must be tested on the most vulnerable part of a luminaire’s enclosure.
- A luminaire’s IK rating is established based on its resistance to the impact and its state after said impact. This state will be assessed taking into account its enclosure as well as its lighting system, meaning if, after the test for a certain IK rating, there is no damage or breakage on the enclosure but there is a lighting defect of some kind, such as shadows, white marks, etc., this will mean that the light fitting has not passed the test for the impact energy used and it must be repeated with a lower impact energy.
IK ratings for resistance to impacts in our luminaires appear (for some references) in their technical data sheets and, in addition, at JISO ILUMINACIÓN we have calibrated tools that allow us to immediately assess the IK rating (up to IK06) of all our products.
If you need to know the IK rating of any of our products, please don’t hesitate to ask us.
We hope you found this information helpful and it answers some of the questions that arise when interpreting IK ratings.
