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GroundingandShieldingTips
ItiswisetospendtimetounderstandthecouplingmechanismsofelectricalnoisethatcreatesElectro MagneticInterference(EMI)whenbuildingelectronicequipment.Itisadvisabletoplanamethodof noiseabatementduringthedesignandbuildingofamachine,ratherthantryingtoproblemsolveEMI issuesoncethemachineisbuilt. Toavoidelectricalnoiseissues,allaspectsofthemachinedesignmustbetakenintoconsideration.The bestprocessisplanningforthebestgroundingmethod.Whenthebestgroundingmethodsarenot achieved,improvedgroundingandshieldingmethodsmustbeusedinstead.Anexampleisapower outputconnectionthatismagneticallycrosscoupledtothedatalinefromaservocontroller.Inthis instance,thedatalinehashighspeednoise,potentiallycausinganoiseproblem.Thedatalinemustbe singleendedorthedifferentialoutputwillrejectthenoise.Therefore,thebestmethodtoavoidcross couplingistotakeboththesourceandthereceiverintoconsideration.Ensurethetwosignalsarelaid outsoindividualconductorsaresurroundedbyamagneticshield,groundedonbothends.Shielding boththeemittersandthereceiverisrecommendedifthecablecannotberelocated. Itispreferredthatthegroundsareneartheinputsandoutputsattheendsofthesignal.Ifthiscannot bedone,abraidedshieldgroundedatoneendisrecommendedovernoshieldatall! UnterminatedshieldswithPWMsignalsaspowerfulasaservocontrollershouldnotbeused. Understandingcouplingmechanismsisextremelybeneficial,especiallyinasituationwherethepotential ofcapacitivelycouplinghighrisetimeispresent. Itisnecessarytogroundthemagneticshield;howeverlowfrequencycansometimesresultinthe generationofcurrentsintwogroundpointsbetweensingleendedsignalscalledgroundloops.A commonalternativethatdoesnotresultintheredesignofasystemisusingamultishieldconnector. Theoutershieldisgroundedatbothendsandtheinnershieldisgroundreferencedatthesourceofthe signal.