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EMC Pre Compliance Testing

Over 50% of products fail EMC testing on the first attempt, making pre-compliance testing important to identify and address issues early. The document discusses how in-house pre-compliance testing can be done more affordably than at a test house using equipment from Tekbox, including a LISN, TEM cell and probes, and provides guidance on testing methods for emissions and immunity.

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Michael Mayerhofer
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237 views12 pages

EMC Pre Compliance Testing

Over 50% of products fail EMC testing on the first attempt, making pre-compliance testing important to identify and address issues early. The document discusses how in-house pre-compliance testing can be done more affordably than at a test house using equipment from Tekbox, including a LISN, TEM cell and probes, and provides guidance on testing methods for emissions and immunity.

Uploaded by

Michael Mayerhofer
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Failing EMC testing?

> 50% of products fail EMC testing first time around


Situation
An engineer of a small or medium size enterprise usually has to rely on his
experience and on best practice methods in order to design an EMC compliant
product.
Nevertheless, it is estimated that > 50% of products fail testing first time
around. Anytime an engineer sends a new product for compliance testing, it is a
shot in the dark.
Failing is very expensive. Not only that re-testing costs are high, but also the
project schedule and market introduction gets delayed.

What to do?
Besides applying best practice with respect to all EMC related aspects
of the design, it is essential to carry out pre-compliance testing

• Pre – compliance testing in a test house


• Pre – compliance testing in-house
EMC pre-compliance testing
Pre – compliance testing in a test house
Radiated emission tests are typically carried out in anechoic chambers, using
antennas to pick up the radiated signals. Due to bandwidth limitations, several
antennas are required to cover the complete frequency range. Furthermore, it
requires much space and the cost of the equipment for a standard conformant
setup is immense.

Advantage: standard compliant test set up and accurate measurement results


Disadvantage: very expensive; time consuming – a test house is not always
around the corner and not any time available; quick modifications of the DUT
can not be carried out as conveniently as in the own lab

Pre – compliance testing in-house


Advantage: there are solutions for any budget; convenient; modifications can be
checked with respect to their effect on EMC immediately;
Disadvantage: depending on the available equipment, the set-up may not be
standard conformant; measurement results may need to be considered being rather
qualitative or relative than quantitative,
results must be interpreted carefully in order to develop countermeasures
historical data needs to be tracked to form meaningful limits on radiation
Tekbox EMC pre-compliance solutions
One of the key components for an in-house EMC compliance test set up is a
spectrum analyzer. Spectrum analyzers have significantly dropped in price over
the last years. Entry level models already start at approximately 1,5K USD.
However price of the remaining equippment required for pre-compliance testing is
still high.
In the laboratory of Tekbox, various EMC pre-compliance accessories were built
over the years for the purpose of in-house testing. It significantly reduced our failure
rate. Consequently we decided to industrialize our tools and to offer it at a very
competitive price. With Tekbox products, EMC pre-compliance testing has become
affordable for any company. A complete pre-compliance set up may cost less than
repeating a failed EMC test at the test house.

Products:
5µH LISN for conducted emission testing of DC powered equipment
TEM cell for radiated emission and immunity testing
EMC probe set to localize the origin of emissions or to localize the origin of immunity issues

Roadmap Q2/Q3 2015:


50µH LISN for conducted emission testing of AC powered equipment
Low cost power amplifiers for immunity testing; larger TEM cell for larger products
EMC precompliance test flow
• Step 1: Conducted emission testing and improvement
Conducted emissions often go hand in hand with radiated emissions. Reducing
conducted emissions usually also reduces radiated emissions
Required equipment: spectrum analyzer + LISN
• Step 2: Radiated emission testing
Check the radiated spectrum for spurious with excessive level
Required equipment: spectrum analyzer + TEM cell
• Step 3: Localize the source(s) of excessive radiation and improvement
Scan the board with near field probes to track down the sources of radiation
and apply countermeasures
Required equipment: spectrum analyzer + EMC near field probes
• Step 4: RF immunity testing
Check the product for RF immunity issues
Required equipment: RF signal gemerator + RF power amplifier + TEM cell
• Step 5: Localize the origin of immunity issues and improvement
Feed the near field probes with an RF signal and scan the board to track
down the origin of immunity issues; apply countermeasures
Required equipment: RF signal gemerator + (RF power amplifier) + TEM cell
Conducted emission testing

Setup for conducted emission testing of DC-powered equipment (e.g. CISPR25)

The DUT shall be isolated and elevated from the groundplane. The spectrum
analyzer shall measure the conducted emissions on both supply lines. The RF output of
the unused LISN shall be terminated with 50 Ohm. If the power return line is less
than 200 mm, a set up with a single LISN is sufficient. For the exact details of the set up
and for the limits of conducted emissions refer to the CISPR 25 or relevant
applicable standard.
Conducted emission testing
Setup for conducted emission testing of AC-powered equipment (e.g.CISPR16)

The DUT shall be isolated and elevated from the groundplane. The spectrum
analyzer shall measure the conducted emissions on both line and neutral.
The value of the parallel combination of the capacitors is 12µF from line and neutral to ground.
This causes around 0.75A flowing into the earth connection and would trip the ground fault switch.
Hence, an insulation transformer is required and good grounding is essential for safety.
For the exact details of the set up and for the limits of conducted emissions
refer to the CISPR 16 or other relevant applicable standard. A built in limiter or
a limiter between the LISN RF output and spectrum analyzer is essential for the protection
of the equipment.
Radiated emission testing
Setup for radiated emission testing

Terminate any of the two ports of the TEM cell with the 50Ω load, connect the DC-Block
to the other port and connect it to the input of the spectrum analyzer. Place the DUT
under the septum and power it on.
Monitor the radiated spectrum.
As a rule of thumb, given that the PCB is positioned not much higher than 1-2cm
above the bottom wall, any spurious with amplitudes higher than 40dµV may
potentially cause a failed compliance test.
Use compliance tested DUTs and the corresponding test reports as a reference for
measurements in the TEM cell.
Localizing the source of emissions

Localize the source of unwanted emissions on the DUT PCB using near field probes
and a spectrum analyzer.
Implement counter measures and re-test the DUT inside the TEM cell to verify if the
modifications result in a reduction of the radiated emissions
RF immunity testing
Setup for RF immunity testing

Terminate any of the two ports of the TEM cell with the 50Ω load, and connect the
signal generator + power amplifier to the other port. The signal needs to be AM
modulated (80%) according to most standards. The power of the signal has to be
chosen according to the required field strength. Place the DUT under the septum and
power it on.
Sweep the signal generator and monitor the DUT for RF immunity issues.
The picture above shows a minimum setup. Inserting a directional coupler with
connected RF power meter in between power amplifier and TEM cell would be of
advantage to monitor power levels.
Localizing the origin of immunity issues

Localize the section on the DUT PCB which is susceptible to RF.


Use a power amplifier only, if the output power of the Signal generator alone was not
sufficient to reproduce the immunity issue.
Implement counter measures and re-test the DUT inside the TEM cell to verify if the
modifications removed the RF immunity issues.
Further details can be found in our
product manuals on www.tekbox.net

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