Breakdown behavior of electronics at variable pulse repetition rates

The breakdown behavior of electronics exposed to single transient electromagnetic pulses is subject of investigations for several years. State-of-the-art pulse generators additionally provide the possibility to generate pulse sequences with variable pulse repetition rate. In this article the influence of this repetition rate variation on the breakdown behavior of electronic systems is described. For this purpose microcontroller systems are examined during line-led exposure to pulses with repetition rates between 1 KHz and 100 KHz. Special attention is given to breakdown thresholds and breakdown probabilities of the electronic devices

Subjects of discussion in radiated emission measurements above 1 GHz

Some emission and susceptibility EMC standards already require measurements above 1 GHz or test site validations (IEC 2006, CISPR 2006). A simple assignment of the established measurement methods below 1 GHz to the frequency range above 1 GHz bears some risks. The ratio between the physical size of the equipment under test (EUT) and the wave-length rises with frequency. This increases the electrical size of the EUT. The directivity may become larger and the radiation pattern of the EUT is getting more complex which reduces the probability to detect the maximum emission with a simple planar cut scan. To analyse these effects in more detail this paper shows radiation characteristics of an exemplary EUT. The influence of a receiving antenna height scan and the angle increment of the turntable scan on the detection of the maximum of the electrical field strength will be discussed. As a result some ideas will be given to reduce the measurement time but keeping the reliability of the measurement results constant

Establishing a link to given radiated emission limits during extending the frequency range above 1 GHz

Up to now most limits for radiated emission are given as values for the electrical field strength. Battermann, 2007 has shown that the frequency range extension for radiated emission measurements above 1 GHz generates a lot of problems while performing the test on a classical test site as depicted in Fig. 1. This paper will give a motivation to use an other measurand namely the total-radiated-power than electrical field strength by using alternative test sites like reverberation chambers, TEM-waveguides, Fully Anechoic Rooms (FAR) etc. Nevertheless most of the existing standards still specify electrical field strength limits. This paper will show how to set the parameters in the given algorithm to establish a link between measured total radiated power and equivalent electrical field values

Pointer Image Theory Usage for Common Mode Current Prediction at Power Lines

This paper aims to explain the pointer image theory as a solution used to predict the common mode (CM) current at power lines, which is strongly related to radiated electromagnetic emissions. Techniques to measure the CM current at power lines in huge installations such as wind turbines (WT) are needed and novel methods are emerging. The WT tower may become an unintentional antenna due to the CM current flowing at its body through stray capacitances. The easiest way to measure the total CM current flow on a three-phase system is by measuring it using a device such as a current clamp or a Rogowski coil. This clamp must cover the whole 3-phase-cable bundle, however, the problem is that such a huge clamp or coil does not exist on the market, besides customized parts. The proposed method in this paper is to implement the pointer image theory to predict the CM current from a WT power plant. Laboratory measurements and SPICE simulations are used to show that the proposed method works well for CM current prediction

Detection of transient disturbing signals on PC boards

This paper shows a possibility to visualize signal propagation in electronic circuits. Instead of using various galvanic measurement points all over the circuit, a test method is shown which measures the radiated field of the printed circuit board. By use of a 2-dimensional positionable field probe it is possible to get an overview over the signals running on the different parts of the PCB. In order to measure transient disturbing signals and distinguish them from normal device operation, problems of probe design and triggering need to be discussed

Hydrothermal activity and magma genesis along a propagating back-arc basin: Valu Fa Ridge (southern Lau Basin)

Valu Fa Ridge is an intraoceanic back-arc spreading center located at the southern prolongation of the Lau basin. Bathymetric observations as well as detailed sampling have been carried out along the spreading axis in order to trace hydrothermal and volcanic activity and to study magma generation processes. The survey shows that widespread lava flows from recent volcanic eruptions covered most of the Vai Lili hydrothermal vent field; only diffuse low-temperature discharge and the formation of thin layers of siliceous precipitates have been observed. Evidence of present-day hydrothermal activity at the Hine Hina site is indicated by a thermal anomaly in the overlying water column. Our studies did not reveal any signs of hydrothermal activity either above the seismically imaged magma chamber at 22°25′S or across the southern rift fault zone (22°51′S). Lavas recovered along the Valu Fa Ridge range from basaltic andesites to rhyolites with SiO2 contents higher than reported from any other intraoceanic back-arc basin. On the basis of the highly variable degrees of crystal fractionation along axis, the development of small disconnected magma bodies is suggested. In addition, the geochemical character of the volcanic rocks shows that the transition zone from oceanic spreading to propagating rifting is located south of the Hine Hina vent field in the vicinity of 22°35′S

New Standards for the Validation of EMC Test Sites particularly above 1 GHz

Standards for the validation of alternative test sites with conducting groundplane exist for the frequency range 30-1000 MHz since the end of the eighties. Recently the procedure for fully anechoic rooms (FAR) has been included in CISPR 16 after more than 10 years intensive discussion in standards committees (CENELEC, 2002; CISPR, 2004). But there are no standards available for the validation of alternative test sites above 1 GHz. The responsible working group (WG1) in CISPR/A has drawn up the 7th common draft (CD). A CDV will be published in spring 2005. The German standards committee VDE AK 767.4.1 participates in the drafting of the standard. All suggested measurement procedures proposed in the last CDs have been investigated by measurements and theoretical analysis. This contribution describes the basic ideas and problems of the validation procedure of the test site. Furthermore measurement results and numerical calculations will be presented especially for the use of omni-directional antennas

Measured Response of Local, Mid-range and Far-range Discontinuities of Large Metal Groundplanes using Time Domain Techniques

This work describes a method to detect and to quantify any local or mid-range discontinuity on extended flat metal planes. Often these planes are used for antenna calibration (open area test site-OATS) or the plane could be the ground of a semi-anechoic chamber used in Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) testing. The measurement uncertainty of antenna calibration or EMC testing depends on the groundplane's quality, which can be accessed using this method. A vector network analyzer with time-domain option is used to determine the complex-valued input scattering parameter S̄11,F of an aperture antenna in a monostatic setup. S̄11,F contains the information desired about the discontinuities and is measured in the frequency domain with high dynamic range. But only after a linear filtering utilizing the Chirp-Z-Transform the obtained time-domain signal S̄11,T give clear evidence of local and mid-range discontinuities