1
Reduction of Conducted EMI in SMPS using
EMI Filter
Document By
SANTOSH BHARADWAJ REDDY
Email: help@matlabcodes.com
Engineeringpapers.blogspot.com
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Abstract — almost every electronic device requires some level
of power conversion in which the required operational voltages
are generated from the input power. Using switched mode
power supply (SMPS) for this purpose generates higher level of
conducted EMI in the high frequency range and it negatively
affects the performance of other near by electronics. So
prediction of conducted EMI is necessary. Time domain
simulation plus Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is a good method
to predict the conducted EMI. In this paper the Boost PFC
circuit is modeled considering parasitic parameters for all the
components. This circuit is simulated using PSPICE and the
conducted EMI is predicted. The EMI filter is one of the
techniques to reduce the conducted EMI. The combined CM
and DM mode filter configuration is discussed. For different
filter component values the circuit is simulated using PSPICE.
A better configuration is suggested from the simulated models.
Index Terms—Common mode (CM), differential mode (DM),
electromagnetic interference (EMI), PFC converter
I. INTRODUCTION
An electromagnetic disturbance is any electromagnetic
phenomenon which may degrade the performance of a device
or equipment or a system. The electromagnetic disturbance
can be in nature of the electromagnetic noise, or an unwanted
signal, or a change in the propagation medium itself.
Electromagnetic interference is the degradation in the
performance of a device or equipment or a system caused by
an electromagnetic disturbance. So improve the performance
of a device or equipment or a system the EMI has to be
reduced.
In [1] the conducted EMI of the CCM PFC circuit is
predicted using a simulation circuit also DM and CM loop
models of the PFC EMI are proposed for describing the noise
generation and propagation mechanisms. It also describes the
effects of PFC inductor and the parasitic capacitances at the
MOSFET drain node.
The EMI spectrum of a discontinuous conduction mode PFC
converter is predicted using a simulation circuit in saber in
[2]. It also gives the design guide lines on circuit layout and
packaging for EMI noise minimization. In [3] the frequency
domain analysis of the boost PFC is explained. In that paper

the noise sources and all other circuit components are
expressed as functions in the frequency domain and the
predicted EMI spectrum is calculated by solving the matrixes
formed by these functions.
The common mode and differential mode switching noise
together with the input filter design and lot of design
considerations such as printed circuit board layout, the effect
of gate snubber, the shield inserted between the device and
the heat sink and also the heat sink grounding connections
are described in [4]. It also reports the conducted EMI
measurements for different filter capacitor values and
placements, for different power switch drive circuits which
turned out to be decisive factors in the reduction of the
generated EMI.
In [5] PFC noise source characteristics and its effect on EMI
noise, impedance mismatch and filter parasitic parameters
are discussed. PFC DM and CM noise source models and
their characteristics are analyzed. A filter is built and the
analysis is verified.
The basics of conducted EMI measurement, suppression
techniques and discussed in [6].it also explains how to design
filter theoretically and making modifications using practical
approach to get a fast and accurate filter solution.
In [7] a very practical EMI filter design according to military
standard MIL-STD 461 is discussed. In [8] design procedure
for ac line EMI filters are discussed. This procedure is based
on the analysis of conducted EMI problems and the use of
EMI diagnostic tool, noise separator.
EMC design aspects for high power ac/dc rectifier and some
design guide lines are discussed in [9].other papers in this
subject includes[10],[11],[12] and so on.
An overview of boost PFC circuit, parasitic model of boost
PFC components are described in section II. Prediction of
conducted EMI using simulation circuit is explained in
section III. Section IV explains CM and DM filter
arrangement and different filter configurations. Section V
concludes the work.
II. PARASITIC MODEL OF BOOST CONVERTER
 2

COMPONENTS L 1 p a r a s i t i Dc 5 p a r a s i t i c
1 2 1 2 1 2
Fig 1 shows the simulation circuit in PSPICE for Boost
PFC. Diodes used here are MUR140; the input is ac 220V, D 1 D 3
50 Hz. The MOSFET used here is IRPF450.The gate driving M 1
p a r a s i t i c

circuit is 100 KHz, square pulse generator. In the On-state, R 1

3
V 1 2 0 C 1
i.e., MOSFET is turned ON, resulting in an increase in the
inductor current; thereby energy is stored in the inductor.In 2

1
the Off-state, i.e., MOSFET is turned OFF, and the only path p a r a s i t i c

offered to the inductor current is fly back diode D5, the D 2 D 4

capacitor C1 and the load R1. This result in transferring the
p a r a1 s i t i c p a r a s i t i c
energy accumulated during the On-state into the capacitor. 1 2 1 2
The Boost PFC can be operated in two modes. One is
continuous conduction mode and another one is
discontinuous conduction mode. Fig 3. Schematic of the PFC with parasitic

D 1 1
The hardware implementation of the converter is far
L 1
1 2 more complex than its schematic. For the purpose of
3 2 0 u conducted EMI modeling the circuit diagram must be
M U R 1 4 0
V+
converted into a far more complex and detailed simulation
D 6 D 7
circuit that can cover the essential EMI characteristics of the
M U MR U1 4R 0 1 4 0
real hardware up to 30MHz. (F.C.Lee, W.G.Odendaal -2004)
C 1

V O F V F 1 = 0 M 3 1 6 0 u The inductor in this 100 KHz PFC circuit (F.C.Lee,

V+
W.G.Odendaal -2004) uses 77083A core from Magnetics
V A M P L = 2 2 0 =V 21
F R E Q = 5 0
V
V
1
2 = 0 I
0
R F P 4 5 0 Corporation with the two cores stacked together. The 49 turn
T
T
D
R
=
=
0
0 . 0 1 u
winding employs AWG16 wire. Using an impedance
V-
T F = 0 . 0 1 u analyzer Agilent 4294A, the impedance magnitude and phase
P W = 5 u
P E R = 1 0 u
can be measured in the frequency range up to 110 MHz.
D 8 D 9
M U MR U1 4R 0 1 4 0 A second order model of the inductor is developed
first. But to represent the impedance characteristics of the
0
PFC inductor up to 30 MHZ, a more complex, higher order
V- model is developed.
Fig 1. Boost PFC circuit for simulation This higher order model is shown in the fig 4.

Fig 4 Higher order inductor model

Fig 5 shows the equivalent circuit of the capacitor.

This simple network equivalent circuit will provide a good
approximation of the impedance characteristics up to 30
MHz for the capacitors.
Fig 2. Output of the Boost PFC

The simulated output wave form is shown in fig 2.

The output is about 475V dc. Thus the converter boosts the
input 220V ac to 475V dc with 2.15 percent of Boost factor.

Figure 3 shows the circuit diagram of CCM PFC

converter. Some stray inductance is associated with the Fig 5. Equivalent circuit of capacitor
layout and the parasitic capacitance at the device drain node
is also depicted. This model includes equivalent series inductance
(ESL) and the Equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the
capacitor.
 3

The capacitance, ESR, ESL are 125.9nF, 26.2 milli

ohms, 7.0nH respectively as shown in fig 6. In the real
hardware another ceramic capacitor is paralled with the
output capacitor (F.C.Lee, W.G.Odendaal -2004).

Fig 6. Capacitor model

LISN presents defined standard impedance to the EUT power

input terminals at high frequency
Any incoming unwanted conducted EMI on the mains power
supply is filtered out by the LISN and a clean input power
supply is provided to the EUT

Figure 7 shows a LISN circuit used in this

simulation model.

R 3 Fig 8.Detailed simulation circuit

R 2

6 . 8 k
6 7 .5 k L 5
L 1R L 2 1 L 8 L 6 L D 7 1 5 2
12 12 12 12 12
6 5 n
3 .8 u R 6
3 70 5 u.0 4 4 1 1 9 9 .5 n n1 M4 . U1 Rn 1 4 0
DD 31 L 1 2
L 1 7 C1 2 2 R 1 17 5 0 m
12 M M U U R R 1 1 4 4 0 0
9 1p . 2 u
R 1 1 13 L0 15 0m
5 0 u
C 1 C 2 1 2 1C 1 5 R 8 RV 2 + 1 0
Fig 7. LISN model 3 L 14 0 . 6 n
1 0 u 0 .1 u L 1 1 M 4 12 6 . 1 2 5 m 0
1 1 .1 8 p
III PREDICTION OF R 1CONDUCTED
R4 1 4 1 12 R R EMI 8 8 9 1 .9 6 n IN BOOST PFC
M 3 L 32 2
5 5 0 CIRCUIT 4 7 . 6 n 2 3 6 0 .2 5 m m V -
C I R 1 C F 1 1 P 1 0 4 5 C0 1 4
Figure 8 shows the detailed L simulation 1 5 7 2 n circuit, considering
all the parasitic parameters. V V 2 1 1= 2 I 1 R 20 F 2 P . 2 7 2 4 L p .7 L 5 3 p 3 0 1 C 2 8 7 9 u
Input is 220V ac supply with V 2 = 0a0 frequency 0 of 50 Hz. The
2 6 n
diodes used in the simulation T D are = R 0 1 MUR140.The 2 7 9 n .9 2 0 6 .9 n 2 n inductor and
the capacitor is considered
V 1 withT R = parasitic 0 . 0 1 u C models. 9 2
The MOSFET circuit V O 0 F used F = 0 T in F = the 0 9 .0 1 simulationu is IRPF450.the
V A M P L = P 2 2W 0 = 5 u 2 2 1 2 5 . 9 n
gate drain parasitic F parameters
R E Q = D D5 40 P 2 E R = L 1 1 0 3 u C C 9 9 1
also modeled. The gate drive
circuit used here is a square pulse1 2generator with a frequency Fig 9. FFT of EMI spectra in log scale
of 100 KHz R 1R 5 1 M 5M U 1U R R 1 1 4 4 0 0 1 0 2 .9 5 .9 2 n n From the simulation output, the maximum
3 9 . 5 n
frequency at which the maximum conducted EMI is
5 5 0
predicted as 10 KHZ and the maximum voltage is about
1 11.093 mV. But this is not matches exactly with the
C L 1 1C 8 3 1 3 1
12 L 9 measured results (F.C.Lee, W.G.Odendaal -2004), because of
1 0 u 0 .1 u the variation in the MOSFET model.
5 0 u
R 98 . 5 n The conducted EMI is reduced using EMI filters.
R L 11 36 L 1 4 L 1 9 The following chapter explains power line filter
1 2 1 21 0 0 0 k 12
2
0 . 9 1 .9 n 2 . 07 n 1 0 . 9 n
 4

configuration and this filter configuration with various values • LCM=1.9 mH

of filter components are simulated. • LDM=5 µH

IV REDUCTION OF CONDUCTED EMI USING EMI

FILTERS

EMI filter is connected in between the LISN and the diode

bridge rectifier of the Boost PFC. EMI filter configuration is
simulated for various values of filter components. Five such
filter configurations are simulated in this section. For the
clear depiction of the filters only the simulation circuit of the
filters is shown in all cases. The detailed simulation circuit of
the Boost PFC and LISN is not shown in all cases.
Fig 12. Filter configuration 2
(i) FILTER CONFIGURATION 1
The filter configuration is shown in the figure
10.
The filter components are specified as follows
• Cx=0.47 µF
• Cy=1 nF
• LCM=1.9 mH
• LDM=5 µH

Fig 13. FFT of the EMI spectra

Fig 13 shows FFT of the EMI Spectra. From the

simulation output, the maximum frequency at which the
maximum conducted EMI is predicted as 1.3 MHz and the
maximum voltage is about 2.3479 mV. But at 10 KHz the
EMI is 726.422 µV.

Fig 10. Filter configuration 1 (iii) FILTER CONFIGURATION 3

The filter configuration is shown in the figure
14.The filter components are specified as follows
• Cx=0.15 µF
• Cy=3.3 nF
• LCM=32 mH
• LDM=477 µH

Fig 11. FFT of the EMI spectra

Fig 11 shows FFT of the EMI Spectra. From the

simulation output, the maximum frequency at which the
maximum conducted EMI is predicted as 10 KHZ and the
maximum voltage is about 9.6310 mV.
Fig 14. Filter configuration 3
(ii) FILTER CONFIGURATION 2
The filter configuration is shown in the figure
12.The filter components are specified as follows
• Cx=0.47 µF
• Cy=470 pF
 5

maximum voltage is about 2.2070 mV. But at 10 KHz the

EMI is 656.755 µV.

(v) FILTER CONFIGURATION 5

The filter configuration is shown in the figure
18.The filter components are specified as follows
• Cx=0.3 µF
• Cy=2.0 nF
• LCM=13 mH
• LDM=400 µH

Fig 15. FFT of the EMI spectra

Fig 15 shows FFT of the EMI Spectra. From the

simulation output, the maximum frequency at which the
maximum conducted EMI is predicted as 10 KHz and the
maximum voltage is about 1.4035 mV.

(iv) FILTER CONFIGURATION 4 Fig 18. Filter configuration 5

The filter configuration is shown in the figure
16.The filter components are specified as follows
• Cx=0.33 µF
• Cy=2.2 nF
• LCM=2 mH
• LDM=20 µH

Fig 19. FFT of the EMI spectra

Fig 19 shows FFT of the EMI Spectra. From the
Fig 16. filter configuration 4 simulation output, the maximum frequency at which the
maximum conducted EMI is predicted as 10 KHz and the
maximum voltage is about 3.0745 mV

V CONCLUSION
Table I shows the comparison of the predicted EMI
without EMI filter and with EMI filter for the five
configurations simulated in the previous sections.

Table I comparison of predicted EMI

Confi Witho Filter Filter Filter Filter Filter
gurati ut 1 2 3 4 5
on filter
Fig 17 FFT of the EMI spectra mV mV mV mV mV mV

Fig 17 shows FFT of the EMI Spectra. From the

simulation output, the maximum frequency at which the
maximum conducted EMI is predicted as 1.3 MHz and the
 6

At 10 11.09 9.631 0.726 1.403 0.656 3.074

KHz 7. I.Cadirci, B. Saka and Y.Eristiren (2005),”Practical
freque EMI Filter design procedure for high-power high-
ncy frequency SMPS according to MIL-STD 461”, IEEE
proceedings

8. Fu-Yuan shih, Chen, D.Y. (1996), “A procedure for

Maxi 2.347 2.207 designing EMI FILTERS for ac line applications”,
mum IEEE transactions on Power electronics.
freque
ncy 9. Qing Chen (1998),”Electromagnetic interference
1.3M design considerations for a high power ac/dc
Hz converter”, Power electronics specialists’
conference.

10. Y.F.Zhang, L.Wang and C.Q.Lee (1995)”Optimal

• From the table the maximum predicted
design of integrated EMI filter” Applied electronics
EMI is 11.093 mV at 10 KHz for Boost
conference and exposition.
PFC without filter. But while selecting a
particular filter from above configuration
11. Crebier J.C, Jourdan L et al., (2000) “Common
maximum conducted EMI has to be
mode disturbance reduction of PFC full bridge
considered.
rectifiers”. Power electronics specialists’
• Even though the conducted EMI for the
conference.
filter configurations 2 and 4 gives the total
conducted EMI in micro volts at frequency
12. Mohit Kumar and vivek Agarwal (2006),” Power
of 10 KHz, the maximum EMI produced
Line Filter Design for conducted electromagnetic
them are 2.3479 mV and 2.2070 mV. It
interference using Time-Domain Measurements”
may be due to the poor capacitor selection.
IEEE transactions on electromagnetic compatibility.
• The configuration which gives the least
total conducted EMI is filter 3 and the
13. A book by V.Prasasd Kodali(2001)describes the”
value is 1.4035 mV at 10 KHz. So this can
Engineering electromagnetic compatibility
be selected to install in the real time
Principles, Measurements, technologies and
application.
computer models” Second edition, 2001, IEEE
Press.
REFERENCES

1. Liyu Yang, Bing Lu, Wei Dong, Zhiguo Lu, Ming

xu, F.C. Lee and W.G. Odendaal (2004),” Modeling
and Characterization of a 1KW CCM PFC converter
Document By
for conducted EMI prediction ”,IEEE transactions
SANTOSH BHARADWAJ REDDY
on Power Electronics.
Email: help@matlabcodes.com
2. W. Zhang, M.T. Zhang, F.C. Lee, J. Roudet and E. Engineeringpapers.blogspot.com
Clavel (1997),”Conducted EMI analysis of a boost
pfc circuit ”, Applied Power Electronics Conference More Papers and Presentations
available on above site
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“Conducted EMI issues in 600-W single phase boost
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5. Shou Wang, F.C.Lee and W.G.Odendaal

(2003)”Improving the performance of Boost PFC
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6. Sulekh Chand and Nurul Hasan (2002)”A practical

approach to conducted noise compliance” ITEM
update