Transient Immunity

Testing a handy guide

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Transient Immunity
Testing a handy guide
4
The handy guide to transient tests
Introduction

As well as covering continuous radio frequency phenomena, EMC means

ensuring product immunity from several sources of transient phenomena that
are present in the electromagnetic environment. These phenomena can be
natural, such as electrostatic discharge (ESD) and lightning surge, or man-made
such as switching transients and fault surges. They involve short-duration
(nanosecond or microsecond) events that have high enough amplitudes to
disrupt the operation of electronic circuits and, in some cases, have enough
energy to destroy or damage components.

Except for ESD, the source of a transient is not normally near to the victim
equipment, and its energy is almost entirely coupled into the circuits via cable
connections. Therefore, immunity testing involves applying a repeatable pulse of
a defined waveform and level into each relevant cable port, in a specified and
reproducible manner. Apart from the rarely-used pulsed magnetic field and
damped oscillatory wave tests of IEC 61000-4-9 and –10, there are no
commercial tests which apply radiated transients. ESD is the special case which
is the exception to this rule: it is applied from a simulator which attempts to
mimic the real-world event, and includes both radiated and conducted
components.

Application of a series of transients is accompanied by monitoring the function of

the EUT to determine whether it has been disrupted and, if so, whether the
disruption is acceptable or not.

This guide discusses the mechanisms involved in generating each type of

transient, the standard tests that have been devised to deal with them, and
some of the practical issues that arise in performing these tests. Some reference
material on the standards is given at the end of the guide.

1
2
Electrostatic discharge
The discharge event
Charging mechanism

All conductive objects have self-capacitance with respect to ground and mutual
capacitance with respect to other bodies. This capacitance can maintain a DC
charge with respect to ground, if the object is insulated from ground.
Movement or separation of insulating surfaces causes charge transfer through the
triboelectric mechanism, and this leaves a net deficit or surplus of free electrons on
the conductive objects that are coupled to these surfaces. Alternatively, proximity
to other electrostatically charged objects results in inductive charging.

With perfectly insulating materials, this charge would remain on the object indefinitely,
but in reality there is some surface and volume conductivity and the free electrons
drift so that the charge differential is gradually neutralised. This occurs more rapidly
with greater conductivity. Static dissipative materials and higher relative humidity
are two ways to increase the conductivity.

The charge Q is related to the voltage differential by the capacitance of the object:

Q=C·V

For parallel plates, capacitance is determined by surface area A and separation

3
distance d, as well as by the permittivity of the dielectric material within the
separation gap:
3 3
C= 0 · r · (A/d)

For irregular objects, the capacitance can be approximated by applying the above
equation to elemental regions of the objects and summing the capacitance due to
each element:

C = ∑i {
3 3
0 · r · (A i/d i)}

where A i is the surface area of each element and d i is the distance between surfaces
for each element.
Human body capacitance depends on the size of the person and on their activity, i.e.
whether they are sitting, standing or walking. In a moving person, all these factors
come together to give a continuously varying voltage on that person. In the worst
case – highly insulating materials, low relative humidity and vigorous movement –

3
the voltage may reach as high as 25kV. Charge potentials higher than this tend
to be limited by corona effects. In more typical situations, voltages vary
between 2-8kV.

The effect on electronics

When a charged object contacts another object at a different potential (this
second object may be at ground potential but is not necessarily so), the charge
is equalised between the two objects, and there is both a voltage v(t) and
current i(t) transient as this occurs (Figure 1). The amplitude and waveform of
the transient depends on the voltage difference and the total impedance in the
equalisation current path.

Figure 1 The typical personnel discharge scenario 4

Associated with the v(t) and i(t) are electric and magnetic field transients E(t)
and H(t). All four of these aspects of the event will couple with electronic circuits
that happen to be in the path of the current or near to the source of the field.
This coupling creates induced transient voltages within the signal circuits
themselves. Digital circuits in particular may respond to these induced pulses as
if they were intentional signals, and their operation is consequently corrupted.

4
Design to avoid ESD problems includes:

• choose circuit configurations that are unresponsive to short transients

• lay out the PCB to minimise induced voltages at critical nodes
• prevent unavoidable discharge transients from coupling into circuits and cables
• design enclosures as far as possible to prevent discharges from occurring

Secondary discharge
A secondary discharge can occur within equipment if the discharge current
through the product attempts to take a path which includes an air gap. The
voltage across the gap increases until the gap breaks down, and this secondary
breakdown can be more stressful for the circuits than the initial event, because it
is closer to them and probably involves a lower path impedance. The breakdown
occurs simultaneously with the applied primary discharge. Secondary discharge
is best dealt with by ensuring that no sneak air gaps exist, or by making them
large enough not to break down, or by bonding across them, and by avoiding
sharp edges which encourage high field gradients.

Figure 2 Mechanism of secondary discharge

5
The IEC 61000-4-2 standard test method and generator

IEC 61000-4-2 and its EN equivalent is the principal basic standard for testing
electrostatic discharge immunity. It applies a defined current waveform at a
specified voltage level from a hand-held generator (Figure 3), which is
essentially a capacitor supplied from a high voltage supply whose charge
voltage is discharged via a series impedance through the
point of contact to ground. Two methods are given:
contact discharge and air discharge.

Figure 3
The Schaffner NSG 435 ESD generator

Contact discharge
In the contact discharge method, the stress may be applied directly
to the EUT or to a coupling plane adjacent to the EUT. Before each test pulse,
the capacitor is charged to the desired level but its voltage is held off the
generator's probe by a vacuum relay. The probe is applied to a suitably
chosen point on the EUT or the coupling plane. The generator is then
triggered, so that the relay contacts close and the capacitor voltage is applied
through the probe to the EUT. This creates a pulse of current (with associated
field and voltage transients) as the voltage discharges through the combined
series impedance of the generator, the EUT and the ground plane. This action
is repeated the desired number of times, at each location, with the appropriate
polarities and levels.

Air Discharge
The same generator is used for the air discharge method, but with a rounded
rather than a pointed probe tip. The capacitor is charged to the desired level
as before, but the voltage is now continuously applied to the probe, which is
held away from the EUT. For each test pulse, the tip is brought up to the
chosen point on the EUT, smartly, until it touches. Just before this, the air gap
between the tip and the EUT will break down and a discharge current will flow,

6
limited as before by the combined series impedance of the generator, the air
gap, the EUT and the return path. Again, the action is repeated the desired
number of times, at each location, with the appropriate polarities and levels.

Figure 4 The ESD generator circuit and waveform

Practical aspects of testing

The test layout
The recommended test layout is shown in Figure 5. The ESD pulse has a
subnanosecond risetime and so radio frequency layout precautions are vital.
The test must re-create the fast risetime found in reality, since this is an
important parameter in deciding both the path the discharge takes through the
EUT and the response of the EUT itself. The ground reference plane (GRP) is
an integral part of the setup and the generator’s return lead must be well
bonded to it, since this connection forms part of the current return path.

7
 Figure 5 ESD test layout

8
The indirect discharge part of the test uses two other planes, different from the
GRP, known as the horizontal coupling plane (HCP) and the vertical coupling
plane (VCP). Discharges to these planes simulate the stress caused by the
radiated field from real-life discharges to nearby objects. Each coupling plane
is connected to the GRP by a resistor lead, to ensure that any charge bleeds
off within a few microseconds. The construction of these leads is critical: there
should be a resistor close to each end, so that the length of lead between
them is isolated from the connections and stray coupling to it is neutralised.
Although power rating is unimportant, the resistors themselves should
withstand a high pulse dV/dt without breaking down, for which carbon
composition types are best suited.

For the few tens of nanoseconds of the ESD event, the plane carries the full
stress voltage, which is capacitively coupled to the EUT. Any stray capacitance
from the plane to objects other than the EUT modifies the plane’s voltage and
current waveforms and hence the applied stress. Therefore, it is important to
maintain at least 1m clear space around the EUT, which implies some
separation of the tabletop setup from walls or other objects. Equally, the
separation from the VCP to the EUT is specified as 10cm; even small variations
in this distance can cause large changes in coupling to the EUT, so a
convenient means of controlling it, such as plastic 10cm spacers on the
surface of the plane, is helpful.

Floating EUTs
If the EUT has a ground connection, the charge that is applied by each test
pulse will quickly dissipate, leaving the EUT ready for the next application. But
this is not true for those EUTs which are isolated from ground such as hand-
held stand-alone devices, or safety Class II mains powered units. When a
discharge is applied to these, charge moves from the 150pF capacitor of the
discharge generator to the self-capacitance of the EUT, leaving it floating at
some voltage above ground, the actual value depending on the ratio of
capacitances (see Figure 6). This is fine on first application, but it means that
the applied stress is progressively reduced on subsequent pulses of the same
polarity and level, since the voltage difference between the generator and the
EUT is diminishing.

9
Or, if the polarity is reversed, the EUT suffers a much greater applied stress
than intended. Small EUTs may have only a few pF self-capacitance, meaning
that they instantly reach nearly the full applied voltage, and subsequent pulses
are worthless.

Figure 6 Charging of ungrounded EUTs

You should, therefore, bleed off

the charge between each pulse
application.
Amendment 2 to the standard,
recently published, achieves this
by allowing a bleed resistor
cable between the EUT and
HCP during the test. As long as
the resistors are mounted very
near to the ends of the cable
(within 2cm), the cable can
remain in place during the test,
since its presence probably
won’t affect the outcome –
although in cases of dispute,
the cable should not be
connected. As with the bleed
resistors for the coupling planes,
you should take some care to ensure that the resistors are capable of
withstanding the full pulse voltage without breakdown.

Alternatives to a permanently connected bleed cable are a bleed resistor brush,

applied in between discharges for the same purpose – the resistor must still be
at the top end of the cable to ground, otherwise the discharge induced by the
bleed could be worse than that applied by the ESD gun, leading to a failure of
the wrong test; or the use of an air ioniser, to speed the natural discharge of
the EUT.

10
Number, location and level of discharges

The standard tells you to do 10 discharges in the most sensitive polarity “at
preselected points”. Lower levels than the specification must also be satisfied
– so if for the typical compliance test you are doing 4kV contact and 8kV air,
you must also do 2kV contact and both 2kV and 4kV air tests. The test stress
is not necessarily linear, so that a product might fail at, say, 4kV and yet pass at
8kV, and this would be an overall failure. But the difficult question is, how do
you preselect the appropriate points?

Only points which are accessible during normal use are to be tested, but this
is often not much of a limitation. Amendment 2 defines what is meant by
accessible parts in more detail. Clause A.5 of the standard gives some
guidance. Also, product standards such as EN 55024 may be more explicit
than the basic standard. But the difficulty usually lies in establishing the most
sensitive locations around the EUT. Exploratory testing using a high pulse
repetition rate or higher level is sometimes helpful, if the EUT’s immunity is only
slightly greater than the specification, but this doesn’t work if the design gives a
good margin of immunity. It also exposes the EUT to greater stress than the
compliance test calls for, which may not be acceptable in some cases.

A prototype design may be weaker than the final product, and the weaknesses
may be most marked at certain points, which are then prime candidates for the
compliance test. But in the end, this question can only be resolved through the
skill, experience and perseverance of the test engineer.

Handling the ESD gun

The stress applied to the EUT is not confined just to the voltage and current
pulse appearing at the tip. There is a stray field around the front of the gun,
and also around the ground return lead as it falls away from the gun. Both of
these can couple to the EUT and modify the stress, so it is necessary to
control them. You need to ensure that the ground lead does not drape over
the EUT but is always held away from it; the standard advises that it is kept at
least 20cm away from the EUT and any conductive parts other than its
connection to the GRP. Equally, you should always hold the generator such
that its probe is perpendicular to the EUT surface that is being tested, and not
handle the generator near the probe. This will reduce the variability of coupling
of the stray field around the front of the generator.

11
When the discharge is applied to the coupling planes, the gun should be held
edge-on to the plane and opposite the centre of the EUT, for the HCP, or at the
centre of one edge of the VCP. This is made explicit in Amendment 1: 1999 to
the standard.

As well as angle of incidence, for the air discharge test the speed of approach
is important, since this affects the breakdown of the air gap. The standard
says “the discharge tip shall be approached as fast as possible (without
causing mechanical damage) to touch the EUT”. In the case of contact
discharge, contact pressure is relevant; even a thin film of oxide can cause a
high contact resistance, which can give dramatic variations in the applied
waveform, so the tip must be pressed as hard as possible against the EUT
surface.

Figure 7 NSG 438 - Schaffner’s 30kV ESD Gun

for automotive and other stringent safety-critical testing

12
Electrical fast transient bursts
Source and effect of transients

When a circuit is switched off, the current flowing through the switch is
interrupted instantaneously. Put another way, at the moment of switching there
is an infinite di/dt. All circuits have some stray inductance associated with the
wiring; some types of load, such as motors or solenoids, have considerably
more inductance in the load itself. The voltage developed across an inductance L
by a changing current i is

V = -L · di/dt

If di/dt is infinite, then this implies an infinitely high voltage. Of course, this
doesn’t happen in practice since the rate of rise of voltage is limited by stray or
intentional circuit capacitance. Even so, a high instantaneous voltage, added to
the circuit operating voltage, does appear across the opening switch contacts.

This causes the tiny but increasing air gap across the contacts to break down,
and a current flows again, which collapses the voltage spike, so that the briefly
formed arc extinguishes. But this re-interrupts the current, so another voltage
spike appears, creating a further arc. This process repeats itself until the air gap
is large enough to sustain the applied voltage without breakdown, at which point
the circuit can be said to be properly switched off. The visible effect is a brief
spark between the contacts, which actually consists of a whole series of
microsparks, the so-called "showering arc", whose repetition rate and amplitude
depend on the circuit and switch parameters.

Figure 8 Transient burst generation

13
The i(t) and v(t) inherent in each spark event propagate along the circuit wiring.
If this is a mains circuit, this burst of noise can appear at other points of
connection to the mains distribution ring. Also since the pulses are very fast –
of the order of nanoseconds – they couple effectively to other wiring in close
proximity to the circuit wiring. Voltage peaks, typically of hundreds but
occasionally thousands of volts, appear on any such coupled circuits.

Burst characteristics
The actual occurrence of these bursts, seen from the point of view of victim
equipment which is unrelated to the source, is usually random – although some
automatic switching events can occur at regular intervals. Noise from brushed
motors and arc welding, two special cases of the above mechanism, usually has
a strong periodic content. The amplitude of the bursts decays with distance due
to the lossy transmission-line characteristics of the wiring, and so it is usually
only sources within a few metres of the victim that are significant. The burst
waveforms are also random, although research has found that the repetition
frequency tends to fall within the range 100kHz–1MHz, and the dv/dt of the
rising edge is roughly proportional to the square root of the amplitude.

Effect on electronics
It is rare, though not impossible, for the transients to be coupled into a nearby
victim by inductive coupling but, generally, they enter the product via the cable
connections. On signal ports, the spikes are almost invariably in common mode,
i.e. on all wires (or on the screen) at the same amplitude with respect to external
earth. On the mains port, they may appear either in common mode or
differentially between phases. Common mode coupling includes the protective
earth wire.
Poor filtering or inadequate screen termination on each interface then lets these
transients pass into the electronic circuits where they appear as interfering
signals at sensitive nodes. As with other types of transient, digital circuits tend
to be more susceptible, since each short pulse can appear as a valid digital
signal. Occurring in bursts, there is a higher probability that one or more pulses
will coincide with a critical timing edge. However, analogue circuits can also be
affected, typically by saturation of sensitive amplifiers. Pulse counting circuits
are also susceptible if the burst masquerades as a real input.

14
Good design practice takes two forms:
• the internal circuit design is bandwidth limited wherever possible, and the PCB
layout prevents large interference voltages from appearing within the circuit;
• all interfaces must be filtered or screened to a structural low impedance earth
so that common mode pulses are prevented from entering the circuit.

The IEC 61000-4-4 standard test method and generator

IEC 61000-4-4 and its EN equivalent is the principal basic standard for testing
fast transient immunity. It applies a specified burst waveform via a defined coupling
network to the mains connection and via a defined clamp device to any signal
connection. Only conducted coupling is used; there is no specification for radiated
transient immunity. Choice of ports for the application of the burst depends on the
instructions in the product standard being used, but it is generally applied to AC
and DC power ports and to signal and control ports that may be connected to
cables longer than 3m.

Figure 9 Test setup for mains port

15
Figure 10 Test setup for signal ports

The power port CDN is essentially an inductor in series with the lines to isolate
the burst application from the supply input, in combination with a capacitor
feeding the burst voltage onto the chosen line(s). All lines may have the burst
applied, including the protective earth, which must, therefore, also include a
decoupling inductor.
The capacitive clamp is a pair of metal plates, connected together and hinged
down one edge so that they can sandwich the cable under test between them.
It is expected that the cable under test will be insulated and, therefore, there is no
direct connection, only a capacitive one – if the cable insulation is weak or
nonexistent this should be anticipated and some extra insulation provided.
Because of the length of the clamp, the capacitive coupling is distributed, which
improves repeatability for the higher frequency components of the transients.
The clamp must also be located a defined distance above the ground plane, and
the burst voltage is applied with respect to this ground plane.

16
 Figure 11 The Schaffner CDN 8014 - An example of a coupling clamp

Waveforms
The burst waveform definitions are shown in Figure 12. To standardise the test, the
waveshape, number of pulses, their frequency and the burst length and repetition
frequency are all specified. It should be understood that these specifications are
explicitly not representative of real life which, as mentioned earlier, sees pulse
repetition rates in the hundreds of kHz. Instead, they represent the lowest common
denominator of what is achievable and repeatable in test generators. It is possible to
program most generators for other values and this may be helpful when you are
testing your products for their immunity to real (variable) bursts.
The source impedance of the generator is required to be 50Ω and the waveform is
calibrated into a 50Ω load and, in the future, according to a new amendment, also
into 1000Ω. The load impedance presented by the EUT is unknown and may be
anything from a near short circuit, for a screened cable port on an EUT that is well
earthed, to a near open circuit for an unscreened port with a series common-mode
choke at the interface. Therefore, the actual voltage that appears between the EUT
port and the ground plane is similarly unpredictable. The aim of the new amendment
is that the waveform of the burst pulse should not change between different
generators and different EUTs.

17
Figure 12 The burst specification

18
Practical aspects of testing

The transient burst voltage is applied to the power port(s) of the EUT via a
coupling/decoupling network (CDN), and to other ports via a capacitive coupling
clamp. The voltage is referenced to the ground plane connection point on the
test generator. The basic standard is not entirely clear about how the burst
should be applied through the CDN (Figure 13). The standard shows it being
applied separately to live, neutral and earth lines, but some product standards
which call up this test have referred to it as “common mode”, that is on all three
lines simultaneously. Schaffner generators such as the NSG 3025 allow you to
select any mode of coupling. The result of the test could well be different
depending on which type of coupling you choose.

Figure 13 Coupling the burst through the CDN

In practice, the choice is a matter of interpretation and either interpretation could

be justified. If you are using the test to check the real-life immunity of your
product, it would be best to apply all different modes of coupling, but if you
need to stick closely to the letter of a product standard, a restricted
interpretation may be reasonable.
The question does not arise with the capacitive clamp, which inherently applies
the burst in common mode.

19
The test layout
This is a high frequency test – the spectrum of the burst extends to hundreds of
MHz – and a ground reference plane (GRP) is essential. Trying to do a
development test without a ground plane will lead to unrepeatability and lack of
correlation to the compliance test. Stray impedances are controlled by the
following restrictions:

• The EUT should be 10cm above the GRP (80cm for table-top
equipment);
• The GRP should extend at least 10cm beyond the EUT on all sides;
• The EUT and the capacitive coupling clamp should be at least 0.5m
from all other conducting structures, including the test generator and
the walls of the room;
• The length of the cable between the coupling device (clamp or CDN)
and the EUT must be 1m or less, with any excess in the mains cable
coiled (not bundled) in a 0.4m diameter loop – it is best to use a
standard 1m test cable for all EUTs, regardless of what they are
supplied with;
• The test generator must be bonded to the GRP with a low-
inductance connection, such as a short bracket or braid. Any
inductance at this point will “lift” the generator output waveform off
the GRP and introduce ringing on the signal that appears at the EUT.
This also applies to the earth plate of the capacitive clamp, which
terminates the high voltage coax cable that comes from the
generator. This lead must be connected to the end of the clamp
nearest the EUT – although clamps are provided with connectors at
either end, you have no choice as to which to use in the actual setup.

The test layout needs some thought to achieve all these requirements together.
Any deviation will affect the stray inductance or capacitance in the coupling
path, which in turn will cause variations in the applied stress. But, for instance,
it can be difficult to ensure a distance of less than 1m for the signal cable
between the coupling clamp which must be mounted on the GRP, and a
tabletop EUT which must be 80cm above it, if the cable port is on the top of a
tall EUT. Such difficulties require a departure from the letter of the standard
which must be carefully assessed and recorded.

20
Burst application
The basic standard specifies that the bursts should be applied for at least one
minute in each polarity. Some product standards modify this, for instance to
two minutes. The main concern is that bursts should be applied for long
enough that any coincidence with sensitive states of the EUT has been
explored. The product standards also define to what ports the test must be
applied. A common qualification is that ports which are connected to cables
that are limited to less than 3m in length, are excluded from the test. There is
nothing magic about the 3m figure, but the intention is to acknowledge that
short cables are unlikely to couple significant amounts of burst interference in
real life. Nevertheless, this puts some responsibility on the manufacturer to
decide which ports can sensibly be included in this restriction. Annex A of
IEC 61000-4-4 gives some information in this respect.

Figure 14 NSG 3025 - Burst Generator

For on-site use, a handy test generator with
autonomous functions is required. And for
laboratory use, the generator needs to offer
extended functionality for product investigation
and automated operation for certification
work.

The NSG 3025 satisfies all these

requirements from one compact unit.

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Surge
The causes and effects of surges

High energy transients appearing at the ports of electronic equipment are

generally a result either of nearby lightning strikes, or are due to major power
system disturbances such as fault clearance or capacitor bank switching.
Lightning can produce surges with energies of several joules by the following
mechanisms (Figure 15):

• direct strike to primary or secondary circuits: the latter can be

expected to destroy protective devices and connected equipment; the
former will pass through the service transformers either by capacitive
or transformer coupling
• indirect cloud-to-ground or cloud-to-cloud strikes create fields which
induce voltages in all conductors
• ground current flow IG from nearby cloud-to-ground discharges
couples into the grounding network via common impedance paths,
and causes substantial potential differences between different ground
points
• primary surge arrestor operation or flashover in the internal building
wiring causes voltage transients

Lightning protection of buildings and their installations is covered by various

standards, including IEC 61024-1:1993, IEC 61312-1:1995 and BS 6651:1992.
These standards define hierarchical protection zones within installations, but
they admit some level of surges even in the deepest zone, so there is still a
need to ensure that individual products can show a degree of immunity from
lightning-induced surges.

22
Figure 15 Surge generation

Fault clearance upstream in the mains supply distribution network produces

transients with energy proportional to 0.5 · L · I 2 trapped in the power system
inductance. The energy will depend on the let-through current of the clearance
device (fuse or circuit breaker) which can be hundreds of amps in residential or
commercial circuits, and higher for some industrial supplies. Power factor
correction capacitor switching operations generate damped oscillations at very low
frequency (typically kHz) lasting for several hundred microseconds.

Effect on equipment
Surges impinging on electronic equipment may cause hardware damage and
complete failure, or in lesser cases, operational upset. Figure 13 gives an
indication of the relationship between surge parameters and these effects.

Below some level dependent on equipment design, no effect is observed. Above

this level, a surge may cause the operation of the equipment to change state,
without any long-term effect on the circuit components. But at a higher level,
there may be enough energy to cause breakdown in critical components. The
maximum voltage that is likely to occur is limited by flashover considerations, for
instance in a typical domestic mains supply no more than about 6kV can be
withstood by the wiring components. The designer has to know what surge
voltage can be sustained by the product's interfaces without protection, and what
voltage is expected in the protection zone in which the product will be used, in
order to decide whether any of these interfaces need additional protection.

23
 Typically, protection involves adding parallel surge suppression devices such as
clamping diodes, varistors or spark gaps. The purpose of these devices is to
break down in a controlled manner at a voltage lower than can be sustained by
the circuit, and dissipate the surge energy within themselves. They must
therefore, be sized to withstand the maximum surge energy to be expected in
a particular application. The rate-of-change of applied voltage and current also
has a bearing on both the susceptibility of a particular interface to upset and on
the ability of protection devices to cope with the surge.

Figure 16 Relationships between surge parameters and equipment effects

flashover/energy
boundary
thousands
Transient amplitude – volts or amps

DAMAGE approximate boundary of

real-world events

UPSET
hundreds

dv/dt (di/dt) boundary

NO EFFECT
tens

microseconds milliseconds seconds

Duration

24
Standard test waveforms
IEC 61000-4-5 defines the 1.2/50µs V – 8/20µs I combination wave. It also
refers to the CCITT (ITU K.17) 10/700µs wave to be applied to telecom ports.
IEC 61000-4-12 defines the waveform for the ring wave.

Combination wave
The surge generator called up in the test to IEC 61000-4-5 has a combination of
current and voltage waveforms specified, since protective devices in the EUT
(or if they are absent, flashover or component breakdown) will inherently switch
from high to low impedance as they operate. Thus part of the surge will be
delivered into a high impedance and part into a low impedance. The values of
the generator’s circuit elements are defined so that the generator delivers a
1.2/50µs voltage surge across a high-resistance load (more than 100Ω) and an
8/20µs current surge into a short circuit (Figure 18).

These waveforms must be maintained with a coupling/decoupling network in

place, but are not specified with the EUT itself connected, and for coupling
devices for signal lines this requirement is waived. Since the surge waveform is
specified as both a voltage and current, it has to be calibrated into both an open
circuit and a short circuit.

Figure 17 The Schaffner Best Compact Test System

for Burst, ESD, Surge and Transient benchtop compliance testing

25
Figure 18 The combination surge waveform

Ring wave
Measurements have shown that most surge voltages in indoor supply systems
have oscillatory waveforms. Even if it is unidirectional to start with, an incoming
surge excites the natural resonances of the system. The frequency of oscillation
can vary between 1–500 kHz and can have different amplitudes and waveforms
at various places in the system.

IEC 61000-4-12 defines a "ring wave" with the characteristics shown in Figure 19.
It is said to be representative of a wide range of electromagnetic environments of
residential and industrial installations. Despite this, it has not found favour with
product committees who are responsible for choosing basic standard tests and,
as a result, it is not widely applied in product testing.

Generator output Minimum repetition Application

impedance Z period
12Ω 10s EUT supply ports connected to major
feeders; application between
communication ports on cabinets
interconnected with 10m long screened
data comms cables

30Ω 6s EUT supply ports connected to outlets

200Ω 1s I/O ports, unless the test involves

protection devices or filters, in which
case 12Ω or 30Ω is applicable

26
Figure 19 The ring wave

Telecom waveforms
For ports connected to telecommunications lines, a further 10/700µs surge is
required. The voltage waveform is specified in the same way as for the
combination wave above, with a front time of 10µs ±30% and a time to half
value of 700µs ±20%.
No current waveform is shown, instead the component values of the waveform
generator are provided. The generator has an output resistance of 25Ω which
may be provided either internally or by external coupling resistors (see top diagram
of Figure 21).

Practical aspects of surge application

Because of the lower frequency spectrum content of the surge waveforms,

surge testing is more tolerant of layout variations, and the standards are fairly
relaxed in this respect. The cable between the EUT and the coupling/decoupling
network should be 2m or less in length (1m for the ring wave). For the combination
wave and telecom wave there are no other explicit restrictions on the layout. The
ring wave test is best carried out over a ground plane, but even this can be waived
for table-top equipment if the earthing connections are well controlled.

27
Safety
However, you should remember that the surge has a high energy content.
The peak voltage that can be applied is 4kV, and the peak current is 2kA.
This means that some protective safety measures are at the least advisable and
in some cases, essential. If there is any likelihood that the surge voltage could
appear on external conductive parts, for instance because the integrity of the
earth connection is not assured – or because, as in the test on screened line
interfaces, you are applying the surge directly to the enclosure – then personnel
must be kept away from the EUT during the test. In any case, the EUT should
be disconnected from other equipment where possible and the whole setup
should be well insulated to prevent flashover.

Also, high resistances in the path of the surge current will be subject to high
dissipation and could overheat with a consequent fire risk. The same applies to
surge suppressors within the EUT, which despite the mandatory one-minute
cooling-off period may fail catastrophically. Make sure all appropriate
connections are tight and capable of taking the expected current, and keep a
fire extinguisher handy.

Coupling
For coupling to the mains supply of the combination wave, the generator is
connected directly via a 18µF capacitor across each phase, but through a
10 ohm resistor and 9µF capacitor for phase-to-earth application (Figure 16).
This means that the highest energy available from the generator’s effective
source impedance of 2 ohms is actually only applied between phases.
The signal line coupling networks include a 40 ohm series resistor, which
reduces the energy in the applied surge substantially.

Coupling to signal lines (Figure 21) has to be invasive; no clamp-type devices

are available for this test. It is permissible to use gas discharge tube coupling for
signal lines to maintain bandwidth. A separate method is used for shielded lines,
in which the surge is effectively applied longitudinally along the shield, by
coupling it directly to the EUT at one end of a non-inductively bundled 20m
length of cable, with the further end grounded.

28
Figure 20 Surge coupling to supply lines

Figure 21 Surge coupling to signal lines

29
Procedure

The test procedure requires the following steps, bearing in mind that an agreed
test plan may modify them:
• Apply at least five positive and five negative surges at each coupling
point, but preferably a sufficient number of pulses to find all critical
points of the duty cycle of the equipment
• Wait for at least a minute between applying each surge, to allow time
for any protection devices to recover
• Apply the surges line to line (three combinations for 3-phase delta,
six for 3-phase star, one for single phase) and line to earth (two
combinations for single phase, three for 3-phase delta, four for
3-phase star)
• Synchronise the surges to the zero crossings and the positive and
negative peaks of the mains supply (four phase values)
• Increase the test voltage in steps up to the specified maximum level,
so that all lower test levels are satisfied – the step size being
generally interpreted as a level at a time, rather than a fixed voltage
step such as 500V

Figure 22 Surge application

period between surge pulses determined by

EUT protection capability
surge voltage increased in
level steps to maximum

For AC lines, synchronise surges to peaks (both polarities) ... ...and zero
crossings

A worst case interpretation of the requirements on a three-phase star supply

being tested up to level 4 would imply that a single complete test would take
nearly 27 hours, not allowing for setup and test sequencing time.

30
The rationale for “all lower levels must be satisfied” is that the behaviour of
many types of surge suppression is likely to vary between low and high values
of surge voltage. A suppressor that would break down and limit the applied
voltage when faced with a high level, may not do so at lower voltages, or may at
least behave differently. The worst case could well be at just below the
breakdown voltage of an installed suppression device. Equally, the EUT
response can change either because of circuit operation or because of
suppressor behaviour when the surge occurs at varying times during the mains
cycle. For example, an unfiltered circuit that looks for zero crossings will have an
undesired response when a negative-going surge occurs at the positive peak of
the cycle. Unless you are very confident of your EUT’s performance in these
various conditions, pre-compliance testing over as wide a range of variables as
possible is advisable.

Figure 23 The Schaffner System 2050 - A complete conducted immunity

test system

System 2050 is a highly versatile, modular, multi-role EMC test facility adaptable
to meet a wide variety of test specifications. System 2050 offers a complete set
of plug-in networks for full compliance testing to basic, generic and product
standards, for single-phase and three-phase power lines as well as data and
telecom lines. As needs grow and change, System 2050 can be extended
accordingly, thereby protecting investment.

FCC pt 68 upgrade
A single plug-in unit generates all five surge
pulses required by FCC pt 68.

For more detailed product characterization,

settings can be modified via the front panel
keypad and display or via WIN 2050
software.

31
Reference Material -
Generic & Product Standard Requirements
Standard Scope DOW* ESD EFT Surges
EN 50082-1: Residential, N/A 8kV air 1kV AC power, 0.5kV Not required (informative annex
1992 commercial & light discharge, to DC power, signal and only)
industrial generic IEC 801-2: 1984 control > 3m to
IEC 801-4: 1988

1st July 4kV contact, 1kV AC power, 0.5kV 1kV L-L, 2kV L-E on AC
EN 50082-1: 2001 8kV air to DC power > 10m, power input; 0.5kV L-L & LE DC
1997 EN 61000-4-2 signal and functional power > 10m, to EN 61000-4-5
earth > 3m to
EN 61000-4-4

EN 50082-2: Industrial generic N/A 4kV contact, 2kV AC & DC power Not required (informative annex
1995 8kV air to and PMC, 1kV other only)
EN 61000-4-2 signal >3m to
EN 61000-4-4

1st April 4kV contact, 2kV AC & DC power, 1kV L-L, 2kV L-E on AC power;
EN 61000-6-2: 2002 8kV air to 1kV signal and 0.5kV L-L & L-E DC power > 10m;
1999 IEC 61000-4-2 functional earth >3m 1kV L-E signal > 30m, to
to IEC 61000-4-4 IEC 61000-4-5

EN 55014-2: Household 1st Jan 4kV contact, 1kV AC power, 0.5kV 1kV L-L, 2kV L-E on AC
1997 appliances etc. 2001 8kV air to DC power, signal and mains, to EN 61000-4-5
EN 61000-4-2 control > 3m to
EN 61000-4-4

EN 55020: Broadcast receivers 1st Aug 4kV contact, 1kV AC power to Not required
1994 + A12: etc. 2002 8kV air to EN 61000-4-4
1999 EN 61000-4-2

EN 55024: Information 1st July 4kV contact, 1kV AC power, 0.5kV 1kV L-L, 2kV L-E on AC
1998 technology 2001 8kV air to DC power, signal and mains, 0.5kV L-E on DC
equipment IEC 61000-4-2 telecom > 3m to power with outdoor cables, to
IEC 61000-4-4 IEC 61000-4-5; 1.5kV 10/700µs on
signal/telecom ports with outdoor
cables, to ITU-T K recs.

EN 50130-4: Fire, intruder and 1st Jan 6kV contact, 2kV AC mains supply, 1kV L-L, 2kV L-E on AC mains
1995 social alarm systems 2001 8kV air to 1kV other supply/signal supply; 1kV L-E other supply/
IEC 801-2:1991 lines to IEC 61000-4-4 signal lines, to IEC 61000-4-5

EN 61326: Measurement, control 1st July 4kV contact, 1kV AC & DC power, 0.5kV power L-L, 1kV power &
1997 and lab equipment, 2001 4kV air to 0.5kV I/O signal/control long distance I/O signal/control
min. requirements IEC 61000-4-2 >3m to IEC 61000-4-4 L-E to IEC 61000-4-5

EN 61547: General lighting 1st July 4kV contact, 1kV AC power, 0.5kV 0.5kV L-L, 1kV L-E on AC
1995 equipment 1996 8kV air to DC power, signal and power, to IEC 61000-4-5
IEC 61000-4-2 control > 3m to
IEC 61000-4-4

EN 300386-2: Telecom Telecom 30th Sept 4kV contact, 1kV AC power, 0.5kV 0.5kV L-L, 1kV L-E on AC power;
1997 network centres 2001 4kV air to DC power, outdoor 0.5kV L-E indoor signal > 10m, to
equipment, EN 61000-4-2 signal and indoor EN 61000-4-5; 1kV 10/700µs on
immunity signal > 3m to outdoor signal lines, to
only EN 61000-4-4 EN 61000-4-5

Not 6kV contact, 1kV AC power and DC 1kV L-L, 2kV L-E on AC power;
telecom 8kV air to power > 3m, 0.5kV 0.5kV L-E indoor signal > 10m, to
centres EN 61000-4-2 outdoor signal and EN 61000-4-5; 1kV 10/700µs on
indoor signal > 3m to outdoor signal lines, to
EN 61000-4-4 EN 61000-4-5

* DOW = date of withdrawal (or, "date of cessation of presumption of conformity") of the superseded standard
L-L = line to line; L-E = line to earth; PMC = process, measurement and control ports
Always check the appropriate standard for detailed applicability

32
Equations

Except for ESD, these equations for the waveshape of the quoted transient
waveforms are derived from IEEE C62.41:1991.

ESD current waveform (4kV indicated voltage, t in ns)

Surge voltage 1.2/50µs waveform (t in µs)

EFT 5/50ns waveform (t in ns)

0.5µs/100kHz ring waveform (t in µs, = 2π·105 rad/s)

Surge and transient energy

The energy content of transients and surges is not simple to define. Not all the
actual energy stored in the test generator is dissipated in the load. That
proportion which is, depends on the ratio of the load and generator impedances.
In general, a load such as a surge suppressor will be non-linear and will also
have a time or frequency dependence.
The "energy measure" of a given waveform can be described by

which gives the energy that would be delivered by that voltage waveform into a
1Ω resistor, whether or not the generator is capable of this (i.e., assuming zero
output impedance). These figures are shown in the right-hand graph of Figure
24.

33
 Alternatively, the actual energy delivered by the generator into a defined
resistive load can be calculated. For the ESD and EFT waveforms, these can be
the calibration loads of 2Ω and 50Ω respectively. For the surge and ring waves,
a load which matches the output impedance can be chosen, and the voltage or
current waveform is delivered into this resistance with half the open circuit (or
short circuit, for current) amplitude – although this simplifying assumption does
not occur in practice as the current and voltage waveforms vary depending on
the load impedance.
In these cases, the energy in Joules (watt seconds) is shown in the left-hand
graph of Figure 24 and is given by

where V(t) and I(t) are the open circuit voltage and short circuit current
waveforms, respectively.
These graphs are for comparative purposes only – the real energy delivered to a
particular EUT can only be calculated if the load impedance and characteristics,
and the actual waveshape applied to this load, are known accurately.
The symbols on the graphs represent test levels 1 to 4 as defined in each
standard.

Figure 24 Transient energy content

100 1000

10 Surge - 1.2/50us V, 2 ohm

100
Surge - 1.2/50us V, 12 ohm
energy Surge
Surge - 1.2/50us V, 42 ohm
1 measure S
Surge - 8/20us I,2 ohm Ring
10
Ring - 12 ohm EFT single pulse
0.1 2
Ring - 30 ohm Vs
EFT 1 sec ofbursts*
energy W Ring - 200 ohm 1 * level 4 reduced due to
EFT - single pulse halved repetition rate
0.01
EFT - 1 sec ofbursts*
Joules
ESD into 2 ohm 0.1
0.001
* level 4 reduced due to
halved repetition rate
-4 0.01
10
0.5 1 2 4
peak open circuit voltage kV
-5
10

-6
10
0.5 1 2 4 6 8 10

peak open circuit voltage (indicated voltage, ESD) kV

34
References

IEC 61000-4-2 Ed. 1 + A1 + A2: Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) - Part 4:

Testing and measurement techniques - Section 2: Electrostatic discharge
immunity test. Basic EMC Publication

IEC 61000-4-4 Ed. 1.0: Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) - Part 4: Testing

and measurement techniques - Section 4: Electrical fast transient/burst
immunity test. Basic EMC Publication

IEC 61000-4-5 Ed. 1.0: Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) - Part 4: Testing

and measurement techniques - Section 5: Surge immunity test

IEC 61000-4-12 Ed. 1.0: Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) - Part 4: Testing

and measurement techniques - Section 12: Oscillatory waves immunity test.
Basic EMC Publication

IEEE C62.41-1991: IEEE Recommended Practice on Surge Voltages in Low-

Voltage AC Power Circuits

ITU-T Recommendation K.17 (1993): Tests on Power-Fed Repeaters using

Solid-State Devices in order to check the Arrangements for Protection from
External Interference

35
36
Index

Section headings Page Number

Introduction 1
Electrostatic discharge 3
The discharge event 3
The IEC 61000-4-2 standard test method and generator 6
Practical aspects of testing 7
Electrical fast transient bursts 13
Source and effect of transients 13
The IEC 61000-4-4 standard test method and generator 15
Practical aspects of testing 19
Surge 22
The causes and effects of surges 22
Standard test waveforms 25
Practical aspects of surge application 27
Reference material 32
Generic and product standard requirements 32
Equations 33
Surge and transient energy 33
References 35
Index 37

37
Index
Figures & Tables Page Number

Figure 1 The typical personnel discharge scenario 4

Figure 2 Mechanism of secondary discharge 5
Figure 3 The Schaffner NSG 435 ESD generator 6
Figure 4 The ESD generator circuit and waveform 7
Figure 5 ESD test layout 8
Figure 6 Charging of ungrounded EUTs 10
Figure 7 The Schaffner NSG 438 30kV ESD Gun 12
Figure 8 Transient burst generation 13
Figure 9 Test setup for mains port 15
Figure 10 Test setup for signal ports 16
Figure 11 The Schaffner CDN 8014 Coupling Clamp 17
Figure 12 The burst specification 18
Figure 13 Coupling the burst through the CDN 19
Figure 14 The Schaffner NSG 3025 Burst Generator 21
Figure 15 Surge generation 23
Figure 16 Relationships between surge parameters and equipment effects 24
Figure 17 The Schaffner BEST Compact Test System 25
Figure 18 The combination surge waveform 26
Figure 19 The ring wave 27
Figure 20 Surge coupling to supply lines 29
Figure 21 Surge coupling to signal lines 29
Figure 22 Surge application 30
Figure 23 The Schaffner System 2050 Immunity Test System 31
Figure 24 Transient energy content 34

38
© 2002 Schaffner EMC Systems.
Specifications subject to change without
notice.

This brochure is only intended as a guide.

For full technical specifications and up to
date information, please visit our website at;
www.schaffner.com
All trademarks recognised.

Schaffner group manufacturing companies

are ISO-registered.
Their products are designed and
manufactured under the strict quality
requirements of the ISO 9000 standard.

This document has been carefully checked.

However, Schaffner does not assume any
liability for errors or inaccuracies.

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