Schaffner-Farnell EMC Award Go’s To Data Cabling Research Project at ERA

David is studying for his MSc and his final project was on the subject of “Cable separation and segregation assessment for EMC based on low frequency inductive coupling between power and signal cables'

A summary of the project follows: Proper cable separation and segregation is fundamentally important to the EMC of various services contained within modern building installations. This is especially true with the introduction of computer data networks and increasingly complex building management systems. The reason for this importance is because cable to cable coupling and field to cable coupling within the installation can lead to conducted interference issues when piped into a sensitive services terminating equipment port. This can lead to anything from a simple self-recoverable malfunction to permanent damage to the equipment into which the interference is being conducted.

This report will initially address the various separation tables described in industry and highlight some of the assumptions likely to have been made in their creation. It will then address the theory behind the calculation of inductively coupled induced voltage and compare with practical laboratory based measurements. A typical example of an installation utilising sensitive services will then be analysed. Calculations of the minimum separations required between power cable sources and sensitive services based on the relative geometries and equipment immunities for the example installation can be made. Also discussed will be the limitations of this assessment and what implications these may have on the conclusions found within the document.

Andy Kotas, Marketing manager of Schaffner adds, “We happy to continue to support the excellent work on EMC carried out at the University of York and the position we have in the market though our relationship with Farnell. We hope this annual award continues to raise awareness of the impact EMC has on all sectors of the electrical and electronics industries and the need for investment in both knowledge and solutions to the ever growing numbers of EMC issues.”