Dust
Insidiuos: developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent. Dust, and other tiny materials like sand, dirt, hair, metal filings, sawdust, plastic shavings etc. can have a detrimental impact on the normal operation of computer equipment working it’s way inside the internal components, blocking bearings from spinning cooling fans at optimal speeds and progressively building up inside I/O ports, affecting the ability to connect and even power your device in the long term.
The first digit of the Ingress protection (IP) rating is how computer manufacturers classify a computer’s ability to prevent this from happening. For example an IP68 rating would have a ‘6’ rating against dust, and the higher the number the better. Cannot see an IP rating for the computer you are looking at purchasing? That means there is no protection whatsoever. Like driving down a dirt road with all the windows down on your car, dust will invariably permeate throughout the interior. The majority of consumer devices historically did not include an IP rating, which resulted in a higher failure rate than necessary in real-world conditions, but more recently integration of ingress protection has started been becoming more popular, perhaps due to the volume of customer complaints about device reliability and business downtime, which is ultimately what happens when consumer devices are being used in environments that were not designed for.
To pass certification for dust ingress protection, a manufacturer must send their device to 3rd party for independent testing and verification wherein they place non-operating machine (i.e. it’s turned off) into dust chamber with 2kg of talcum powder per cubic meter of the chamber volume and circulate that around with internal fans for 8 hours, which ends up completely caking the device in powder, before removing and wiping dust away before powering on the device to see if it will still power up!
Depending on the design of the device, dust protection may only be valid if the ports are closed etc. whereas we have seen rugged devices that maintain their IP rating even if the ports are open. We always recommend that you handle your device with care and try to protect against the elements wherever possible, and contact us if you need help with selecting the right device for your environment.