Hardware appears in many forms in the IoT, whether it’s the underlying processors that power devices, sensors that collect information from the physical world, or edge computers that collect and analyze data. Various hardware including gateways, radios, and chipsets play a vital role in IoT. Hardware IoT equipment is an IoT hardware device formed by a casing wrapping a circuit board, such as industrial routers, serial servers, 4G DTU, etc.
Since hardware devices are protected by shells, what kind of shell is better? For example, what are the benefits of industrial router shells, and what are the differences between different shells?
4g industrial router shell protection level
IP rating reference table
| IP rating | First Digit-SOLIDS | Second digit – liquid |
| IP00 | No solid protection. | No liquid protection. |
| IP01 | No solid protection. | Prevent condensation. |
| IP02 | No solid protection. | Prevent the angle between the water spray and the vertical direction being less than 15 degrees. |
| IP03 | No solid protection. | Prevent water mist less than 60 degrees from the vertical direction. |
| IP04 | No solid protection. | Prevent water spray from any direction. |
| IP05 | No solid protection. | Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP06 | No solid protection. | Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP07 | No solid protection. | Protect against immersion to a depth of 15 cm to 1 meter. |
| IP08 | No solid protection. | Prevent long-term immersion under specified pressure. |
| IP10 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | No liquid protection. |
| IP11 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | Prevent condensation. |
| IP12 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | Prevent the angle between the water spray and the vertical direction being less than 15 degrees. |
| IP13 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | Prevent water mist less than 60 degrees from the vertical direction. |
| IP14 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | Prevent water spray from any direction. |
| IP15 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP16 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP17 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | Protect against immersion to a depth of 15 cm to 1 meter. |
| IP18 | Prevent touching by hands larger than 50mm. | Prevent prolonged immersion under specified pressure. |
| IP20 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | No liquid protection. |
| IP21 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | Prevent condensation. |
| IP22 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | Prevent the angle between the water spray and the vertical direction being less than 15 degrees. |
| IP23 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | Prevent water mist less than 60 degrees from the vertical direction. |
| IP24 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | Prevent water spray from any direction. |
| IP25 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP26 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP27 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | Protect against immersion to a depth of 15 cm to 1 meter. |
| IP28 | Prevent fingers and objects larger than 12 mm from touching. | Prevent long-term immersion under specified pressure. |
| IP30 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | No liquid protection. |
| IP31 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | Prevent condensation. |
| IP32 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | Prevent the angle between the water spray and the vertical direction being less than 15 degrees. |
| IP33 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | Prevent water mist less than 60 degrees from the vertical direction. |
| IP34 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | Prevent water spray from any direction. |
| IP35 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP36 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP37 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | Protect against immersion to a depth of 15 cm to 1 meter. |
| IP38 | Protected from tools and wires larger than 2.5mm. | Prevent long-term immersion under specified pressure. |
| IP40 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1 mm. | No liquid protection. |
| IP41 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1 mm. | Prevent condensation. |
| IP42 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1 mm. | Prevent the angle between the water spray and the vertical direction being less than 15 degrees. |
| IP43 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1 mm. | Prevent water mist less than 60 degrees from the vertical direction. |
| IP44 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1mm. | Prevent water spray from any direction. |
| IP45 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1mm. | Protected from any direction of low pressure water jets. |
| IP46 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1mm. | Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP47 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1mm. | Protect against immersion to a depth of 15 cm to 1 meter. |
| IP48 | Protected from tools and thin wires larger than 1mm. | Prevent long-term immersion under specified pressure. |
| IP50 | Prevent dust from entering. | No liquid protection. |
| IP51 | Prevent dust from entering. | Prevent condensation. |
| IP52 | Prevent dust from entering. | Prevent the angle between the water spray and the vertical direction being less than 15 degrees. |
| IP53 | Prevent dust from entering. | Prevent water mist less than 60 degrees from the vertical direction. |
| IP54 | Prevent dust from entering. | Prevent water spray from any direction. |
| IP55 | Prevent dust from entering. | Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP56 | Rotated by limited dust ingress. | Rotate in any direction from the high pressure sprinkler. |
| IP57 | Rotated by limited dust ingress. | Immerse at a depth of 15 cm to 1 meter. |
| IP58 | Rotated by limited dust ingress. | Prevent long-term immersion under specified pressure. |
| IP60 | Prevent dust from entering. | No liquid protection. |
| IP61 | It is rotated by the entry of total dust. | Prevent condensation. |
| IP62 | It is rotated by the entry of total dust. | Prevent the angle between the water spray and the vertical direction being less than 15 degrees. |
| IP63 | It is rotated by the entry of total dust. | The rotation distance of the sprinkler head is less than 60 degrees from the vertical direction. |
| IP64 | It is rotated by the entry of total dust. | Prevent water spray from any direction. |
| IP65 | Prevent dust from entering. | Protected from low pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP66 | Prevent dust from entering. | Protected from high pressure water jets from any direction. |
| IP67 | Prevent dust from entering. | Protect against immersion to a depth of 15 cm to 1 meter. |
| IP68 | Prevent dust from entering. | Prevent long-term immersion under specified pressure. |
| IP69K | Prevent dust from entering. | Protected from steam jet cleaning. |
Material differences of 4g industrial routers
On the market, the materials of 4g industrial routers are mainly divided into PVC plastic shells and sheet metal shells. It sounds like the plastic case is much weaker than the sheet metal case, but this is not the case. The explanation given by Baidu Encyclopedia is that the PVC professional thermal insulation external protection system is a prefabricated product that is easy to install. It is a neat, unified, clean and beautiful system suitable for the external protection of pipelines and equipment and their thermal insulation outer shells. Its bright appearance does not produce or accumulate dust, keeps it clean for a long time, is easy to clean, and has anti-corrosion, acid and alkali resistance, and it also has anti-ultraviolet and anti-aging functions, so it can be used indoors and outdoors. Acid and alkaline environments and many other occasions. Therefore, in most industrial scenarios, PVC plastic shells are not inferior to sheet metal shells, and the cost is lower.
But in very harsh environments, the advantages of sheet metal housings can come into play. Compared with PVC shells, the benefits of sheet metal shells highlight two points: durability and heat dissipation.
4G industrial routers are networking equipment that consumes relatively large amounts of power among 4G network equipment. They are used, for example, to transmit surveillance videos. Therefore, heat dissipation is a concern for project operators. The sheet metal shell has better heat dissipation than the PVC shell, and its anti-interference is relatively better. Because of its significant advantages in heat dissipation and anti-interference, it has a long durability.
Industrial routers with PVC plastic shells, represented by Renren G805, are suitable for commercial environments such as smart parking lots, automatic retail, and gates. They can also work normally in most underground mines and mines; however, the environment is relatively harsh, such as the temperature exceeds the human body’s adaptability. Environments with a larger range, poor environmental protection, and strong interference are suitable for relatively high-cost sheet metal casings, represented by the product 4g industrial router G806.
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