Impact of Dust Penetration on Products and the Role of Dust Test Chambers

Dust penetration into products can have significant impacts on their performance and durability:

• Breaching Seals and Casings:Dust can infiltrate internal spaces through seals and casings, compromising sealing effectiveness and thereby affecting waterproofing and environmental adaptability.
• Altered Electrical Performance: Dust particles can affect electrical performance by increasing contact resistance, track resistance, and surface leakage current, potentially leading to unstable operation or damage.
• Impeding and Abrading Moving Parts: Accumulated dust on moving parts like bearings can increase friction, accelerating wear and adversely affecting product lifespan and performance.
• Contaminating Optical Surfaces and Lubricants: Dust adhering to optical surfaces can impair visual quality and sensor accuracy. Additionally, dust contamination of lubricants can reduce effectiveness, hastening component wear.
• Blocking Vents, Pipelines, Filters, and Operation Holes: Dust buildup can block ventilation openings, pipelines, filters, and operation holes, hampering heat dissipation, fluid flow, and operational performance.
• Facilitating Wear and Microbial Growth: Accumulated dust can serve as nuclei for moisture condensation, exacerbating surface wear and potentially promoting mold or bacterial growth, affecting product hygiene and reliability.

To mitigate the impact of dust on products, effective protective measures are necessary. Dust test chambers serve as crucial equipment for evaluating dust protection capabilities.

The working principle of a dust test chamber involves using a fan to propel a certain concentration of dust particles at a specific flow rate over the surface of test samples. This assesses the sample’s defense capabilities and tolerance in dry, dusty atmospheres, including resistance to dust infiltration, resistance to abrasive damage or blockage, and testing storage and operational capabilities.

Key Features:

• Dust Propulsion by Fan: Internal fans propel a controlled concentration of dust particles at specific speeds over test samples.
• Realistic Environment Simulation: The chamber simulates real-world dust and particulate conditions, exposing test samples to assess defense capabilities and endurance.
• Closed-Loop Vertical Dust Circulation System: Utilizes a closed-loop vertical dust circulation system to ensure uniform dust circulation. Ducting and chamber design promote even dispersion of dust, ensuring test accuracy and reliability.
• Mirror-Finish Stainless Steel Ducting: Ducting constructed from mirror-finish stainless steel facilitates smooth airflow, preventing dust accumulation or blockage within ducts.

According to the IEC/EN60529 standard, dust protection ratings (IP codes) evaluate the protective capabilities of electronic equipment and are classified into 7 levels (IP00 – IP6X), as follows:

• IP00: No dust protection; device lacks dust-proof features.
• IP1X: Prevents entry of objects >50mm in diameter, effectively stopping large dust and objects.
• IP2X: Prevents entry of objects >12.5mm in diameter, suitable for preventing medium-sized dust and objects.
• IP3X: Prevents entry of objects >2.5mm in diameter, effectively stopping small dust and objects.
• IP4X: Prevents entry of objects >1.00mm in diameter, suitable for preventing fine dust and objects.
• IP5X: Device does not entirely prevent dust entry, but dust ingress must not affect normal device operation or safety.
• IP6X: Device completely prevents dust ingress.

Dust test chambers find primary applications in various industries:

• Electronics Industry: Testing electronic product protection in dusty environments, such as appliances, motors, instruments, and meters.
• Automotive Industry: Particularly useful for testing automotive electronics and components in dusty conditions to assess durability and reliability.
• Lighting Industry: Evaluating performance of various lamps in dusty environments to ensure they remain functional and undamaged.
• Aerospace Industry: Testing aerospace electronics and equipment for reliability and durability in potential dusty conditions.
• Telecommunications Industry: Testing communication equipment for stability and reliability in dusty environments to ensure consistent operation in adverse conditions.

SC-015 Dustproof test chamber

Shanghai LISUN SC-015 Dust-proof Test Chamber (Sand Dust Chamber) is applied to physical and other related performance tests for electronic and electrical products, lamps, electrical cabinets, electrical components, automobiles, motorcycles and their parts and other products under simulated dust climate conditions. Verify whether the performance of the product meets the requirements through verification after the measurement, so as to facilitate the design, improvement, verification and factory inspection of the product. The dust test chamber is applicable to the IP5X and IP6X dustproof test.

Shanghai LISUN SC-015 Dust-proof Test Chamber Specifications:
• Temperature range: RT+10~50℃
• Standard wire diameter of metal screen: 50um; Standard spacing between wires: 75um
• Test dust: dry talc powder; Talc powder dosage: 2~4kg/m; Dust drop method: free falling
• Total test time: 0~999H (adjustable); vibration time: 0~999H (adjustable); time accuracy: ±1 second
• Vacuum: 0~10Kpa (adjustable); Pumping speed: 0~4800L/H (adjustable)
• Sample (EUT) power connection: Refer to the rated input of the sample, but the current can’t be greater than 10A
• Safety protection function: leakage protection, short-circuit protection
• The shell is made of domestic high-quality steel plate, and the surface is sprayed with paint, which is beautiful and durable.
• The inner chamber, sample rack, etc. are made of stainless steel plates to ensure that they will not rust for a long time.
• There is a transparent observation window (toughened glass) on the door, and an LED lighting lamp is installed in the chamber to facilitate the observation of the internal test situation.
• There is a device for replacing dust at the bottom of the chamber, which can easily 100% replace the used dust.
• A vibration device is installed to ensure that the dust does not stick to the wall and condense. The working time of the device is adjustable, and it can work automatically and alternately.
• There is a suction pipe in the chamber, which can complete the vacuum action on the sample (sample should reserve the suction hole position).
• Dust chamber testing control system: 7-inch touch screen + Panasonic PLC. The dust blower, dust  vibration and total test time can be controlled separately. This controller has the following various arbitrary setting control functions:
1. Dust blowing time (stop, blowing): can arbitrarily choose any of continuous and periodic dust blowing time to setting;
2. Vibration time: vibration and stop vibration time are automatically alternated;
3. Preset test time: the maximum test time is 99 hours and 59 minutes;
• Heating system: The circulating air duct is equipped with a heater to heat the dust to avoid dust condensation. The heat of the muffler mica sheet heating ring is safe and stable.
• Vacuum system: equipped with vacuum pump, vacuum pressure, air filtration, flow meter, pressure regulating triplet, connecting pipe.