Impact and Fall Protection Rating Test

SimplePack and SimpleIndustry Impact and Fall Protection Rating Test (According to IEC 62262:2002, IEC 60068-2-31 and MIL-STD-810)

We worked with guidelines described in three international standards: IEC 62262:2002, IEC 60068-2-31, and MIL-STD-810. We have adjusted a few aspects of them without any impact on the integrity of test results and will state those changes in each section of this article.

IEC 62262:2002

Degrees of protection provided by enclosures for electrical equipment against external mechanical impacts (IK code).

Similar to the more commonly encountered IP rating, IK rating goes up to IK10 and each rating of the enclosure is based on the force of the impact (in joules).

As standard, a 1.000g steel ball of 50mm diameter is used (5.000g for IK10), we have used a 900g 40mm-diameter steel ball and adjusted the distance (height of fall) from the case in order to get the same impact energy in joules (J). Our test is a slightly harder-to-pass version of the official IK rating test as the smaller ball will concentrate the force of the impact on a smaller surface area than a larger ball would.

SimplePack

IK rating	Requirement in joules	Height of the test fall	Actual impact force in joules	Test result
IK07	2 J	300mm	2.65 J	Passed
IK07	2 J	400mm	3.53 J	Passed
IK07	2 J	500mm	4.41 J	Passed
IK08	5 J	600mm	5.29 J	Passed
IK09	10 J	1200mm	10.58 J	Passed
IK10	20 J	2300mm	20.29 J	Impact on edge*

*Enclosure impacted but the device is still working fine (with the larger ball, lower height, and straight impact, the official IK10 should be passed easily)

SimpleIndustry

IK rating	Requirement in joules	Height of the test fall	Actual impact force in joules	Test result
IK09	10 J	1200mm	10.58 J	Passed
IK10	20 J	2300mm	20.29 J	Passed

IEC 60068-2-31

Environmental testing - Part 2-31: Tests - Test Ec: Rough handling shocks, primarily for equipment-type specimens. Drop and topple, free fall, repeated free fall and bounce tests are performed with the specimen.

As we have focused this testing on free fall impact protection, we have just performed the free fall part of this International Standard. Both the SimplePack and the SimpleIndustry were tested in the following manner:

• Free fall from 1) 750mm and 2) 1.000mm

• 2 repetitions each

• Landing on a steel plate on hardwood

SimplePack

Height	Test result
750mm	Passed
1.000mm	Passed

Test result: No visible damage and the device are working fine.

SimpleIndustry

Height	Test result
750mm	Passed
1.000mm	Passed

Test result: No visible damage and the device are working fine.

MIL-STD-810H

Environmental Engineering Considerations and Laboratory Tests, is a U. S. Military Standard that emphasizes tailoring an equipment's design and test limits to the conditions that it will experience throughout its service life.

As this standard has a lot of sub-tests not needed for testing our devices (such as ballistic shock, explosive atmosphere, etc.), we have selected the “Logistic transit drop test” part of this standard. These are the conditions:

• Plywood/steel landing plate - we used a hard plastic pallet to simulate plywood (for IEC testing, the steel plate would be better)

• Height of fall of 48 inches (1210mm)

• 26 repetitions of fall on all edges

SimplePack

Passed without any visible or internal damage. The device is very lightweight and has no problem being tossed around.

SimpleIndustry

Doesn’t pass as the device is very heavy and the force on the internal parts of the device is too strong to handle. The battery holders cannot hold the batteries in repeated falls. This could be solved by filling the device with gel/epoxy in order to spread the impact force.