EMC HW Ott

NOISE AND INTERFERENCE

Noise is any electrical signal present in a circuit other than the desired signal. Although these
distortion products may be undesirable, they are not considered noise unless they are coupled
into another part of the circuit. It follows that a desired signal in one part of a circuit can be
considered to be noise when coupled to some other part of the circuit.

Noise sources can be grouped into three categories:

1. Intrinsic noise sources that arise from random fluctuations within physical systems, such
as thermal and shot noise;
2. Man-made noise sources, such as motors, switches, computers, digital electronics, and
radio transmitters; and
3. Noise caused by natural disturbances, such as lightning and sunspots.

Interference is the undesirable effect of noise.

If a noise voltage causes improper operation of a circuit, it is interference.
Noise cannot be eliminated, but interference can. Noise can only be reduced in magnitude, until
it no longer causes interference.

EM interference (EMI): The unwanted effect of EM noise interfering

with our signals

DESIGNING FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is the ability of an electronic system to

1) function properly in its intended electromagnetic environment and
2) not be a source of pollution to that electromagnetic environment.

EM compatibility (EMC): Here I like to cite the definition from the

European EMC directive 2004/108/EC: EM compatibility means the
ability of equipment to function satisfactorily in its EM environment
without introducing intolerable EM disturbances to other equipment
in that environment
A system is electromagnetically compatible with its environment if it satisfies three
criteria:
1. It does not cause interference with other systems.
2. It is not susceptible to emissions from other systems.
3. It does not cause interference with itself.

The electromagnetic environment is composed of both radiated and conducted energy.

EMC therefore has two aspects, emission and susceptibility.
Susceptibility is the capability of a device or circuit to respond to unwanted electromagnetic
energy (i.e., noise).
The opposite of susceptibility is immunity.
The immunity level of a circuit or device is the electromagnetic environment in which the
equipment can operate satisfactorily, without degradation, and with a defined margin of safety.
One difficulty in determining immunity (or susceptibility) levels is defining what constitutes
performance degradation.

Emission pertains to the interference-causing potential of a product.

The purpose of controlling emissions is to limit the electromagnetic energy emitted and thereby
to control the electromagnetic environment in which other products must operate.
Controlling the emission from one product may eliminate an interference problem for many
other products.
Therefore, it is desirable to control emission in an attempt to produce an electromagnetically
compatible environment.

To some extent, susceptibility is self-regulating.

If a product is susceptible to the electromagnetic environment, the user will become aware of it
and may not continue to purchase that product.
Emission, however, tends not to be self regulating.
A product that is the source of emission may not itself be affected by that emission. To guarantee
that EMC is a consideration in the design of all electronic products, various government agencies
and regulatory bodies have imposed EMC regulations that a product must meet before it can be
marketed.
These regulations control allowable emissions and in some cases define the degree of immunity
required.

EMC engineering can be approached in either of two ways:

a. The crisis approach, and
b. The systems approach.
In the crisis approach, the designer proceeds with a total disregard of EMC until the functional
design is finished, and testing—or worse yet—field experience suggests that a problem exists.
Solutions implemented at this late stage are usually expensive and consist of undesirable ‘‘add
ons.’’ This is often referred to as the ‘‘Band Aid’’ approach.
The systems approach considers EMC throughout the design; the designer anticipates EMC
problems at the beginning of the design process, finds the remaining problems in the breadboard
and early prototype stages, and tests the final prototypes for EMC as thoroughly as possible. This
way, EMC becomes an integral part of the electrical, mechanical, and in some cases, software
/firmware design of the product. As a result, EMC is designed into— and not added onto—the
product. This approach is the most desirable and cost effective.

If EMC and noise suppression are considered for one stage or subsystem at a time, when the
equipment is initially being designed, the required mitigation techniques are usually simple and
straightforward. Experience has shown that when EMC is handled this way, the designer should
be able to produce equipment with 90% or more of the potential problems eliminated prior to
initial testing.

EMC REGULATIONS
UNITED STATES’ EMC REGULATIONS
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates the use of radio and wire
communications.
Three sections of the FCC Rules and Regulations* have requirements that are applicable to
nonlicensed electronic equipment. These requirements are contained in
Part 15 for radio frequency devices; 6 parts: subpart A to F
Part 18 for industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) equipment; and
Part 68 for terminal equipment connected to the telephone network.
ISM equipment is defined as any device that uses radio waves for industrial, scientific, medical,
or other purposes (including the transfer of energy by radio) and that is neither used nor intended
to be used for radio communications. Included are medical diathermy equipment, industrial
heating equipment, rf welders, rf lighting devices, devices that use radio waves to produce
physical changes in matter, and other similar noncommunications devices.

Part 68 of the FCC Rules and Regulations provides uniform standards for the protection of the
telephone network from harm caused by connection of terminal equipment [including private
branch exchange (PBX) systems] and its wiring, and for the compatibility of hearing aids and
telephones to ensure that persons with hearing aids have reasonable access to the telephone
network.
Harm to the telephone network includes electrical hazards to telephone company workers,
damage to telephone company equipment, malfunction of telephone company billing equipment,
and degradation of service to persons other than the user of the terminal equipment, his calling or
called party.

CANADIAN EMC REQUIREMENTS

The Canadian EMC regulations are similar to those of the United States. The Canadian
regulations are controlled by Industry Canada
EUROPEAN UNION’S EMC REQUIREMENTS
In May 1989, the European Union (EU) published a directive (89/336/EEC) relating to
electromagnetic compatibility, which was to be effective January 1, 1992.
The European EMC directive differs from the FCC regulations by including immunity
requirements in addition to emission requirements. Another difference is that the directive,
without exception, covers all electrical/electronic equipment. There are no exemptions—the
EMC directive even covers a light bulb. The directive does, however, exclude equipment that is
covered by another directive with EMC provisions, such as the automotive directive.
Another example would be medical equipment, which comes under the medical
directive (93/42/EEC) not the EMC directive.
The EMC Directive 2004/108/EC (which superceded the original EMC Directive 89/336/EEC)
defines the essential requirements for a product to be marketed in the EU. They are as follows:
1. The equipment must be constructed to ensure that any electromagnetic disturbance it
generates allows radio and telecommunication equipment and other apparatus to function
as intended.
2. The equipment must be constructed with an inherent level of immunity to externally
generated electromagnetic disturbances.

INTERNATIONAL HARMONIZATION
See: EMI and EMC Basic Concept (slide) 9 – 10

Aspects of EMC clayton p3

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. 1.1. 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.

There are three ways to prevent interference:

1. Suppress the emission at its source.
2. Make the coupling path as inefficient as possible.
3. Make the receptor less susceptible to the emission.

We may further break the transfer of electromagnetic energy (with regard to the prevention of
interference) into four subgroups:
  radiated emissions,
 radiated susceptibility,
 conducted emissions, and
 conducted susceptibility,
as illustrated in Fig. 1.2.

The velocity of propagation in free space (air) is given in terms of these as

For nonconductive media, other than free space, the velocity of wave propagation is
DECIBELS AND COMMON EMC UNITS clayton p23
The primary quantities of interest in EMC problems are
conducted emissions [voltage in volts (V),
and current in amperes (A)]
and radiated emissions [electric field in volts per meter (V/m)
and magnetic field in amperes per meter (A/m)].
Associated with these primary quantities are the quantities of power in watts (W) or power
density in watts per square meter (W/m2).
The numerical range of these quantities can be quite large. For example, electric fields can have
values ranging from 1μV/m to 200 V/m. This represents a dynamic range of over eight orders of
magnitude (108). Because these wide ranges in units are common in the EMC community,
EMC units are expressed in decibels (dB). Decibels have the property of
compressing data, e.g., a range of voltages of 108 is 160 dB.

The decibel (dB) was originally developed in the telephone industry to describe the effect of
noise in telephone circuits [4]. The ear tends to hear logarithmically so describing the effect of
noise in dB is natural.
To begin the discussion, consider the amplifier circuit shown in Fig. 1.6. A source consisting of
an open-circuitvoltage Vs and source resistance Rs delivers a signal to an amplifier whose load is
represented by RL.

The input resistance to the amplifier is denoted by Rin and the power delivered to the amplifier is
Note that power gain in dB is defined as 10 log10 of the ratio of the two quantities, whereas voltage gain and current
gain in dB are defined as 20 log10 of the ratio of the two quantities