EMC Protection of Instrument Signal Lines in Industrial Installations a Demonstration Model for EMC Education

Abstract

This paper describes a practical test arrangement which is used to visualize the electromagnetic effects and key EMC measures in real process automation systems. The demonstration setup contains commonly used industrial components and known EMI sources such as a variable speed motor drive (VSD), switched inductive loads and a portable RF radio as well as susceptible instrumentation. Relatively simple measurements, mainly in the time domain are conducted to demonstrate the EM sources, the electromagnetic coupling paths to control equipment and the effectiveness of EMC installation measures in terms of shielding, bonding and segregation. The EMC demo is used to improve EMC skills of electrical and instrument design and service engineers.