TRANSILVANIA UNIVERSITY OF BRAŞOV

FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Program of study : Advanced Electrical Systems

Project of Environmental Policy and Electromagnetic

Compatibility

Methods of reducing electromagnetic disturbances

Conf. Dr. Ing. ACIU Lia

Pantile Bogdan Gabriel

2017 – 2018

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 Methods of reducing electromagnetic disturbances

Content

1. Introduction..................................................................................................................... 3

2. Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)........................................................................... 4

3. Materials used in electromagnetic compatibility............................................................ 6

4. Methods of reducing electromagnetic disturbances....................................................... 10

5. Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 16

Bibliography

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 1. Introduction

The first radio interference problems occurred in the 1930s (20th century). The causes of
these interferences were electric motors, electricity transmission and distribution lines,
atmospheric electricity.

As a result, in 1933 the International Special Committee on Radioelectric Interference (CISPR)

was set up, with the aim of establishing rules for the avoidance of radio interference.

Interference problems have increased significantly over the next decades (bipolar transistors
appeared in the 1950s, integrated circuits in the 1960s and microprocessors in the 1970s).

In 1980, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) publishes CEI 80, which refers to
the immunity of materials to electromagnetic interference, thus opening the way to what we call
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) today.

In the 1990s an "invasion" of electronic devices took place in all areas of economic and social
life. This proliferation has led to the generalization of electromagnetic immunity regulations for
all materials.

Against this background, the EEC (European Economic Community) has drafted the 89/336 / EC
(MEC) Directive of May 1989, which contains the EMEA legislation on EME.

Following an implementation report (decided in 1992 to allow industries to organize), Directive

89/336 / EC entered into force on 1 January 1996.

This Directive was adopted in Romania by GD 1032/2001 on establishing the conditions for
placing on the market and functioning of electrical and electronic apparatuses from the
electromagnetic compatibility point of view, being subsequently amended and completed by GD
497/2003 and GD 1554/2003. These constituted a stage of the legislative harmonization program
for the accession of Romania to the European Union.

Currently, in most countries of the world, EMC norms are binding, failure to do so leads to the
withdrawal of inappropriate products from the market and the material (and sometimes criminal)
liability of the manufacturer (these standards set the operating conditions for equipment,
emission level, level of accepted perturbations, methods of measurement, testing and evaluation
of EMC performance).[1]

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 2. Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC).

As illustrated above, EMC is concerned with the generation, transmission, and reception
of electromagnetic energy. These three aspects of the EMC problem form the basic framework of
any EMC design. This is illustrated in Fig. 1.

A source (also referred to as an emitter) produces the emission, and a transfer or coupling path
transfers the emission energy to a receptor (receiver), where it is processed, resulting in either
desired or undesired behavior. Interference occurs if the received energy causes the receptor to
behave in an undesired manner.

Transfer of electromagnetic energy occurs frequently via unintended coupling modes. However,
the unintentional transfer of energy causes interference only if the received energy is of sufficient
magnitude and/or spectral content at the receptor input to cause the receptor to behave in an
undesired fashion. Unintentional transmission or reception of electromagnetic energy is not
necessarily detrimental; undesired behavior of the receptor constitutes interference. So the
processing of the received energy by the receptor is an important part of the question of whether
interference will occur.

Quite often it is difficult to determine, a priori, whether a signal that is incident on a receptor will
cause interference in that receptor. For example, clutter on a radar scope may cause a novice
radar operator to incorrectly interpret the desired data, whereas the clutter may not create
problems for an operator who has considerable experience. In one case we have interference and
in the other we do not, although one could argue that the receptor is the radar operator and not
the radar receiver. This points out that it is often difficult to uniquely identify the three aspects of
the problem shown in Fig. 1. [2]

Figure 1. The basic decomposition of the EMC coupling problem. [2]

It is also important to understand that a source or receptor may be classified as intended

or unintended. In fact, a source or receptor may behave in both modes. Whether the source or the
receptor is intended or unintended depends on the coupling path as well as the type of source or
receptor. As an example, an AM radio station transmitter whose transmission is picked up by a
radio receiver that is tuned to that carrier frequency constitutes an intended emitter. On the other
hand, if the same AM radio transmission is processed by another radio receiver that is not tuned

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to the carrier frequency of the transmitter, then the emission is unintended. (Actually the
emission is still intended but the coupling path is not.)

There are some emitters whose emissions can serve no useful purpose. An example is the
(nonvisible) electromagnetic emission from a fluorescent light.

This suggests that there are three ways to prevent interference:

 Suppress the emission at its source.

 Make the coupling path as inefficient as possible.
 Make the receptor less susceptible to the emission.

Unlike interference between different systems, also referred to as "intersystem interference" (or
external interference interference), the transmitter and receiver may be parts of the same system,
"intra-system interference" (or interference of internal origin ) - figure 2.

System I System II System I

Figure 2. Intersystem Interface (Left) and Inside System (right.) [1]

Typical examples of intra-system interference are:

- exchange of signals between neighboring data lines to electronic modules;

- current variations on power lines and inductive voltage drops caused by them;
- self-inductive voltages when disconnecting the relay and contactor windings;
- Parasitic reaction phenomena in multi-stage amplifiers.

Satisfactory electromagnetic compatibility can be achieved practically in all cases by appropriate

measures to:

- transmitter (through shields, spectrum limits, directives antennas, etc.);

- coupling mechanism (shielding, filtering, network topology, optical transmission, etc.);
- receiver (shielding, filtering, schematic design).

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 3. Materials used in electromagnetic compatibility

The properties of the materials used to reduce electromagnetic pollution must help
counter unwanted electromagnetic field influences. Requirements for materials used to reduce
radiated disturbances depend on shielding requirements. Electromagnetic screens can be
considered even metal braids or iron fittings of buildings if screening requirements are very low.

The importance of conductive plastic materials has increased with the replacement of metallic
carcasses. Conductive plastics have admixtures of conductive materials (carbon black, metallic
powders, etc.) in significant quantities and are only suitable for certain uses. In order to be used
as screens, plastic carcasses are internally metallized with a conductive layer. Metallization is
made with flame or plasma, application of conductive lacquer, galvanic treatment, vacuum
evaporation, etc. At high frequencies and screen thicknesses used in practice, the shading effect
of a carcass is to a lesser extent determined by the screen material than the poor areas resulting
from functional conditions or for reasons of manufacturing or mounting.

The choice of screen material must be adapted to the existing conditions in which the electrical
system in question operates. Thus, often the choice of screen material is not only determined by
the shielding effect itself, but also by other views, such as: if the screen material serves as a
wrapper of an existing building if it is to form a shielded cab self-supporting or corrosion
problems, etc. Generally, materials of sufficiently high conductivity or which are capable of
creating reaction fields by influence or induction are required. [3]

Elastomers

Elastomeric (elastic) conductive polymers have the role of mechanically sealing the enclosures
and electromagnetic shielding from an electrical point of view. Conductive elastomers are made
by dispersing conductive particles in elastomers by inserting conductive wires oriented into solid
elastomers or spongy elastomers or by inserting conductive metal mesh. These elastomers are
placed between the metal casing of an electrical appliance and a cover, providing sufficient
electrical contact to provide electromagnetic shielding, but also a sufficient seal to prevent the
water from entering the casing.

In the figure there are some examples of gaskets made from conductive elstomers (left) and
silicone elastomers with uniformly distributed monel yarns to provide maximum electrical
contact:

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 Figure 3. Examples of gaskets made from conductive elastomers [3]

At low temperature, the elastic properties of the elastomers are lost and the elastomers become
strong. After the temperature increase, the elastic properties return to normal. High temperatures
produce eluting the elstomers. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures can produce chemical
changes in the structure that are irreversible.

In Military Handbook 695 it is shown that the lifetime of Etylene Propylene Diene elastomers is
between 5 and 10 years and for others (Silicon, Fluorsilicon etc.) is more than 20 years.

The galvanic compatibility between the elastomeric lead and the carcass material is important
because the salty water or moisture produces corrosion, the faster the galvanic compatibility is
lower.

The figure shows two applications of conductive elastomer gaskets, left to a mobile phone and to
the right of an electronic board:

Figure 4. Applications of conductive elastomer gaskets [3]

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Adhesives: The bonding of the coding elastomers can be done with conductive adhesives, such
as the ElectroBond adhesive in the figure:

Figure 5. ElectroBond adhesive [3]

This is a single-component adhesive that is used at room temperature to bond the conductive
metal elastomers. The brazing time is 30 minutes but the maximum stability is reached after a
week. The bonding is flexible and conductive in the temperature range from -57 to +177 degrees
Celsius.

A 2-component adhesive such as ElectroPoxy can also be used. ElectroPoxy uses silver particles
dispersed in the polymer and can also be used to repair integrated circuits

Conductive shielding foils and conductive coatings

The cables may be screened with conductive aluminum foil on the insulating support, and the
cost of such shielding is reduced. An adhesive is placed on one side of the foil to make the
assembly easy. The shielding efficiency is 105dB in the 2MHz-1GHz range. The aluminum foil
has a thickness of 12μm and the insulating foil is a polymer (PET or PVC) with a thickness of
25-100μm

Another shielding material is made of a polyurethane foam with different Nickel + Copper
coated shapes. Surface resistance is less than 0.08Ω and shielding efficiency is better than 60dB
in the 10MHz-10GHz range. This solution can also be used against electrostatic discharges.

A 99.99% copper-based adhesive copper foil provided with a nickel-based conductive adhesive
can be used for shielding. The thickness of the copper foil is 0.035mm.

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A category of recently proposed screens are electroconductive films, namely the following
categories:

- Conductive paints, varnishes, elastomers, silicone, vinyl, acrylic or latex resins requiring
careful surface preparation;

- Paints with lacquer and Ag (made of organic resin mixed with silver particles). A paint layer
provides a sufficiently non-porous layer so that the surface resistance is in the order of 0.1 /m2
at 25.4 m thick. This corresponds to a volume resistivity of 0.04 m ( = 25 1 / m or r =
0.0042.) It should be noted that by heating the conductivity increases;

- Elastomer coatings with Ag filling, form a continuous and flexible film. Rsde = 50 m/ m2
which corresponds to r = 0.014;

- Silicone and Ag coatings, combining Ag (r = 0.39) with high silicon temperature (315 ° C);

- Conductive paints made of Ag-filled vinyl copolymer have good surface strength Rsde = 10
m/ m2 at 1 mm thickness, operating temperature is between - 54 ° C and + 121 ° C;

- Acrylic conductive paints have R π = 50 m/ m2 for 1 mm thick. A conductive coating is

chosen based on: friction resistance, hardness, adhesion to plastic, glass, ceramics, solvent
resistance, operating temperatures.

When using dielectric materials, it should be borne in mind that their dielectric properties depend
not only on the composition but also on the density, temperature and frequency of the
electromagnetic field.

Knowing the dielectric properties of materials in the industrial frequency range to the microwave
is essential in establishing the structural and functional configuration of shielding systems.

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 4. Methods of reducing electromagnetic disturbances

Reducing radiated disturbances is done using electromagnetic screens that are mediums
that separate the space into two distinct regions, one where the source is disturbing, and the other
where the protected space is located. Within the protected region, the intensity of the
electromagnetic field is significantly diminished compared to the intensity of the electromagnetic
field outside the shielded range. [1]

The screens may be massive or film / foil (generally at frequencies above 30 MHz). In case of
shielding the electric fields, the screen is a potential reference for all cables, filters, etc., also
providing the way for the return of the parasitic currents.

The mechanisms of protection of electromagnetic field action by a screen are shown in Fig.6;
they are based on the phenomenon of reflection of the waves at the encounter of a surface of
discontinuity and respectively on the phenomenon of absorption due to propagation in a given
dissipative environment. Wave that represents the incident field (electrically, magnetically or
electromagnetically) and propagates in the direction of the screen, suffers a first reflection when
encountering the screen, then repeated internal reflections inside it, part of the wave being
transmitted also in the protected space. Apart from the multiple reflections taking place in the
screen, the incident wave also suffers an absorption phenomenon, all of which makes the level of
waves transmitted in the protected space much lower compared to the incident wave level.

Figure 6. The electromagnetic field action in the screen [5]

The efficiency of shielding is appreciated by the attenuation of the screen (AE is the attenuation
for the electric field and AH is the magnetic field attenuation) and is defined as the ratio of the

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electromagnetic field to a point in the protected space without the screen being present and the
residual field at the same point in the screen presence; the attenuation can be expressed in dB:

(1.1)

It should be noted that the presence of the screen disturbs the field; a positive value corresponds
to the attenuation of the electromagnetic field and not a gain. If the attenuation is negative, it is
not an amplification, but a field redirection (for example, magnetic materials can "channel"
magnetic fields at low frequencies from a certain area of space, thus producing a field strength
only in certain areas and its decrease outside the respective areas).

As shown in Figure 6, attenuation is produced by two phenomena: attenuation by reflection

(internal or external) and attenuation by absorption.

Attenuation by reflection

At the occurrence of an electromagnetic wave with a separation surface of two mediums

with different electrical properties - the first being the free space and the second - the screen, the
two components, the electric field and the magnetic field transmitted to the screen undergo
changes that can be appreciated by comparing the impedances of the two environments. Surface
impedance is defined by the ratio of the two fields:

(1.2)

In direct current or low frequencies, the surface impedance becomes purely resistive; the
expression of surface resistance can be deduced by considering a conductor in the form of a
square plate, side a and thickness g, resulting in:

(1.3)

At high frequencies, the surface impedance of a screen becomes independent of the thickness of
the screen and has the expression:

(1.4)
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At high frequencies, the surface impedance is roughly equal to the intrinsic impedance of the
screen if the screen thickness is g <0.7s, (where δ is the penetration depth) and is defined by the
relationship:

(1.5)

Reflection losses are important when the impedances of the two environments are not adjusted.
At the reflection of free space / conductive screen, the tangential component of the electric field
and the normal component of the magnetic field are null to the separation surface (Figure 7, the
conductive surfaces are "field" vacuum cleaners and "magnetic field" skaters). Also, the
reflection increases with σ, ie it is better for the copper and aluminum screens and the weaker for
the iron ones.

Figure 7. Sharing the field in an aperture

Absorption attenuation

The phenomenon of waves absorption in conductive screens is based on the

transformation of their energy into heat as a result of the occurrence of eddy currents and
displacements; the attenuation due to absorption occurs according to an exponential law:

(1.6)

where: d represents the thickness of the screen, and δ is the depth of penetration of the field into
the material.

It follows that the absorption attenuation factor will be:

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 (1.7)

Due to the increase in frequency-attenuation at more than 1 MHz, the conductive screens
represent particularly effective barriers for both electric and magnetic fields or electromagnetic
fields; total attenuation, At a screen is obtained by summing the attenuation due to reflections
and absorption (in dB):

At = A + R. (1.8)

Figure 8 shows the attenuation of some screens according to frequency; it is noticeable that the
attenuation is higher for magnetic materials, provided they do not saturate.

Figure 8. Total attenuation based on frequency

High-frequency shielding

With the increase of the frequency, the losses in the screen are increased and therefore the
efficiency of the ecstasy is increased; the main problem that occurs in this case is related to the
radiation of the slots, that is to say the holes, joints and cuts in the screen. Thus, for a rectangular
cut (Fig. 9), there is a change in the current distribution in the screen; due to changing the dense
current density of the screen, the slot generates an electric field perpendicular to the slot length
and a magnetic field parallel to it.

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 Figure 9. The effect of apertures

The impedance of the radiated electromagnetic field is small, predominantly magnetic; thus, the
slots in the thin screens show up to the resonance frequency (l = λ / 2) an inductive characteristic,
namely L = 1 nH / cm, ie about 10 times less than that of a conductor of the same length,
independent of the height and thickness of the screen (Figure 9). The reduction of the influence
of the slots is achieved by direct electrical contact (gluing, welding, screwing) or obstruction
effect by overlapping the edges of the plates to be joined.

From a constructive point of view, the screens can be: plates (even metallic films) or boxes
(boxes - Faraday box). The principle of operating the plates as a screen is based on the
realization of a conductive "image plane" that produces a reduction effect on the shielded area.
With regard to screens made in the form of metal boxes, it must be borne in mind that an empty
cavity has a series of resonant frequencies, f0, given by the expression (in MHz):

(1.9)

where: l, h and w are the dimensions in meters of the enclosure (considered parallelipipedic), and
k, m and n - integers. The most troublesome is the minimum resonance frequency.

Shielding cables

In most cases, cables are very efficient emission / reception antennas compared to the
equipment box. To reduce the perturbing effects of the fields taken / issued, shielded cables are
used. With regard to electric field shielding, two modes of connection for coaxial cables can be
considered. Thus, in the first case, the screen is not connected to the table; In the second case,
when the cable screen is connected to the ground, the cable's own capacity appears parallel to the
load impedance. If the cable's own capacity is much higher than the capacity for capacitive
diaphragm, the effect of the disturbing voltage on the load impedance is reduced because the

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disturbing current is bound to leak through the ground impedance to the ground. Usually, the
coaxial cable attenuation at the electric field action is about 80-120 dB.

Regarding magnetic field shielding, if a source of disturbance is considered to be a current and a

coaxial victim cable placed in the vicinity, there are two inductive couplings, one towards the
shield (screen) and one to the central conductor. In practice, the filter cut-off frequency for a
coaxial cable is about 1 kHz and depends on the cable construction.

Reducing the radiation emitted or captured by cables is done by connecting all the cables to the
potential reference plate, usually represented by the panel behind the equipment; this plate must
be good conducting electricity. The potential reference plate connects to the chassis, all of which
are connected to the connecting cables as well as the filters; no unshielded or unfiltered cable is
allowed to enter the equipment without reference to the reference plate of the Potential! Chassis
attachment is made by several low impedance points (bolts 10 cm apart from each other).

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 Conclusions

The properties of the materials used to reduce electromagnetic pollution must help
counter unwanted electromagnetic field influences.

Materials used for shielding are magnetic or non-magnetic conductive materials, their
choice depends on the nature of the application and the cost price.

Shielding separates the disruptive environment from the protected environment and is an
effective way to reduce field-emitted / received perturbations.

Shielded cables are efficient for both the electric field and the magnetic field.

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 Bibliography

[1] - L.Aciu, Course Notes - Electromagnetic Compatibility

[2] - Clayton R.Paul: Introduction To Electromagnetic Compatibility

[3] - http://etc.unitbv.ro/~ogrutan/CEM2014/6-cem-ecranare.ppt

[4] - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6654370/

[5] - http://www.meo.etc.upt.ro/materii/cursuri/CEM/Cap3.pdf

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