Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-01-21 Origin: Site
For endoscope camera modules, the protection level is not just a specification—it is a core reliability indicator.
Unlike standard camera modules, endoscope cameras operate in sealed, humid, and often liquid-exposed environments, where failure is usually irreversible.
However, medical and industrial endoscope camera modules face very different operating conditions, leading to fundamentally different protection requirements.
First, it's essential to recognize that both medical and industrial endoscope camera modules are far from consumer electronics. They share non-negotiable demands for:
High Reliability: Must function flawlessly in harsh, unpredictable environments.
Hermetic Sealing: To prevent ingress of external media that could cause failure.
Robust Construction: Ability to withstand bending, torsion, or vibration.
The critical divide lies here: their definitions of a "harsh environment" are entirely different, leading to distinct primary goals and testing standards for protective design.
Medical Endoscope Camera Modules: The core requirement is "body fluid intrusion prevention" to avoid cross-contamination and circuit damage. In clinical settings, modules come into contact with blood, tissue fluid, normal saline, and other body fluids, requiring a protection rating of IPX7 or higher (no mandatory dust protection, as medical environments are relatively clean). The key is to ensure no liquid penetration during short-term immersion (e.g., rinsing before disinfection). Some minimally invasive surgical modules need to reach IPX8 to adapt to operations in long-term liquid environments.
Industrial Endoscope Camera Modules: Facing complex pollutants such as dust, oil, sewage, and metal debris, the protection rating generally requires IP67/IP68 ("6" indicates complete dust protection, "7/8" indicates deep water resistance). For example, pipeline inspection modules must withstand sewage immersion, while mechanical maintenance modules need to resist metal dust intrusion. The sealing design must block both solid and liquid pollutants to prevent circuit short circuits or optical lens contamination.
Medical Modules: Sterilization is a core mandatory requirement, requiring resistance to high-frequency, high-intensity sterilization processes. The protection design must adapt to two mainstream methods:
High-temperature and high-pressure sterilization (134℃, 2bar pressure steam): The module housing and seals must use high-temperature resistant materials (e.g., special stainless steel, PTFE), the lens coating must resist steam corrosion, and internal circuits must be moisture-proof and insulated to avoid short circuits or performance degradation after sterilization;
Chemical sterilization (ethylene oxide, alcohol, chlorine-containing disinfectants): The packaging materials must have chemical inertness to avoid material aging and cracking caused by disinfectant erosion. Meanwhile, they must meet the requirement of "no harmful substance leaching" and comply with biocompatibility standards.
Industrial Modules: No sterilization requirement is needed; they only need to withstand oil, cutting fluid, etc., in the environment. The protection design focuses on "chemical corrosion resistance" (e.g., using oil-resistant rubber seals and anodized aluminum alloy housings), without considering the dual erosion of high temperature, high pressure, and chemical disinfectants.
Medical Modules: Must resist corrosion from body fluids (blood, bile, gastric juice) and chemical reagents during sterilization. Materials must be biologically inert (e.g., medical-grade titanium alloy, special engineering plastics) to avoid safety risks caused by metal ion leaching or material degradation.
Industrial Modules: Targeted protection based on scenarios—mechanical manufacturing scenarios require resistance to oil and cutting fluid corrosion; chemical pipeline scenarios require resistance to acid and alkali media; mining inspection scenarios require resistance to dust and moisture. Materials are mostly corrosion-resistant stainless steel and fluororubber, and some extreme scenarios require additional anti-corrosion coatings.
Medical Modules: The operating environment is relatively mild, and mechanical protection focuses on "preventing accidental damage". They need to withstand slight collisions (e.g., contact with instruments during surgery) but do not require high-intensity impact resistance design. The core is to avoid seal failure due to structural deformation, which affects disinfection and body fluid isolation effects.
Industrial Modules: Face risks such as severe vibration (e.g., mobile detection with equipment), collision (e.g., friction and impact with pipe walls when inserted into pipelines), and wear. Mechanical protection must meet higher standards—the housing must be thickened or made of wear-resistant alloy, the lens must be equipped with sapphire glass (scratch-resistant), and the internal structure must be shockproof and reinforced to ensure no seal loosening or displacement of optical components during high-intensity use.
Medical Modules: Directly or indirectly in contact with human tissues/body fluids, they must meet biocompatibility standards (e.g., ISO 10993). The protection design must simultaneously ensure "material non-toxicity, non-sensitization, and non-irritation" to avoid triggering human immune reactions or tissue damage—a core requirement not considered for industrial modules.
Industrial Modules: No biological contact is required; only mechanical and chemical protection performance needs to be guaranteed, and there is no need to meet biocompatibility standards.
Medical endoscope camera modules are designed for extreme reliability under continuous moisture exposure,
while industrial endoscope camera modules balance protection level with cost and application needs.
