BEST EMC PRACTICES

FOR ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ASSEMBLY A N D INSTALLATION

Keith Armstrong

The best EMC practices described here have been proven to help speed development and commissioning
timescales, and help ensure reliable operation, as well as help comply with the EMC Directive. They need to
be employed from the start of a project to realise their greatest savings. Any additional time and costs incurred
by the use of these techniques is more than made up for by savings later and reduced commercial risks.
These selected best EMC practices are taken from BS IEC 61000-5-2:1997 and IEC 61000-5-6 and moderated
by experience with their application, solving real-life interference problems, and EMC testing. EMC concerns
all electromagnetic phenomena including power-frequency interference, so these best EMC practices are
excellent at preventing “ground loop” problems and achieving good analogue and digital signal quality.
Some of these best EMii practices contradict “traditional’’ techniques. As professional engineers it is our
duty to be up-to-date, and this often means revising or replacing traditional practices as technology advances.
A paper of this length cannot provide much detail, and should be treated as a guide to the major best EMC
practices. Refer to the standards or appropriate training courses, or to a textbook to be published later this
year, for more detail. IEC 61000-5-6 may not have been published yet, so use the latest draft for comment
from BSI (ref. no. 91/210789 DC).
There are three best-practice sections to this paper:
Buying electrical and electronic units with proven EMC performance suitable for the application
Best EMC practices in assembling control and instrumentationcabinets
Best EMC practices for installations
Best EMC practice issues addressed by other speakers, such as to identifylng the electromagnetic @M)
characteristics of the intended operational environment, and providing the installeduser with EMC
instructions, are not addressed further here.
Buying electrical/electronic units
It is best to purchase units whose manufacturers have designed-in and proved levels of engineering EM
performance suitable for the intended operational electromagnetic environment. Alternatively, as early as
possible, determine (and design in) the shielding and filtering and other remedial methods that will be required
by the purchase of units with inadequate EM performance.
Always check the EMC installation and use instructions provided with purchased units before deciding which
to purchase. Some of them have no instructions (implying their manufacturer is not bothered about their actual
E M performance) and some have instructions that require great expenditure of time and cost. Some
instructions are not automatically provided and need to be specifically requested, sometimes because they
contain embarrassing installation procedures. Always follow the manufacturers’ EMC instructions faithfully,
and use the following EMC best practices everywhere else.
Assembling control and instrumentation cabinets
There are five essential best practices here:
Segregation of cable classes, and of electrical or electronic units
EMC earth bonding using a backplate
Terminating cable screens at both ends and using a parallel earth conductor
Filtering
Shielding cabinets
Partner, Cherry Clough Consultants
Chairman of IEE Professional Group E2 (EMC)

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Cable classes, routing, and segregation
Cables are split into four classes, and each class run in a different trunking or bundle. Inside a typical cabinet,
cable classes should not run parallel any closer than 150mm. Trunks or bundles must keep their cables very
close to the backplate (used as an EMC earth - see later). If cable classes must cross, they must do so at right
angles and even then some shielding may be
required between classes more than one number
Route send and return current paths together
apart.
N N
All the current send and return paths associated
with any load should always be routed together as
close as is possible.
This is especially important where current paths
involve switches, relays, etc, as shown by this
sketch. I-, route \
Twisted pairs, triples, or quads are best. Busbars
are best spaced apart by thin layers of solid
dielectric. Very heavy individual cables should at
least be run as close together as they can be
(taking full account of other physical limitations).
Class 1 is for cables carrying very sensitive signals. Low-level analogue signals such as millivolt output
transducers and radio receiver antennae are in Class la. High-rate digital communications such as Ethernet are
in Class lb.
All class 1 cables must use fully screened cables and connectors over their entire path. Unscreened twisted-
pairs are commonly used for data cables, but they are poor for interference control. Classes la and l b should
not be bundled together, although their bundles may be run quite near to each other.
Class 2 is for cables carrying slightly sensitive signals, such as ordrnary analogue (e.g. 4-2OmA, 0-IOV, and
signals under lMHz), low-rate digital communications (e.g. RS232, RS422, RS48S, Centronics), and digital
(i.e. ado@ inputs and outputs (e.g. limit switches, encoders, control signals). Internal DC power supplies are
also considered class 2, but not the DC links associated with power converters or motor drives.
250/440V) or DC
Class 3 is for cables carrying slightly interfering signals, such as externally supplied AC (I
power which has been carefully segregated fiom all electromagnetically “noisy” apparatus. (It may also be
applied to adequately filtered external AC or DC power connected to noisy apparatus.)
Class 3 also embraces control circuits with resistive and inductive loads, where the inductive loads‘are
suppressed at the load (e.g. the electrical coils of relays, contactors, solenoids, actuators, valves, etc.); DOL
motors; so-called “sparkless” DC motors; and the motor cables from inverter drives where a “sinusoidal
output” filter has been properly implemented at the drive.
Class 4 is reserved for cables carrying strongly interfering signals. This includes all the power inputs or
outputs to or fiom: adjustable speed drives; power converters; and their DC links. It is possible to filter these
to make them class 3, if the filters are carefilly chosen and implemented (see later). Class 4 also applies to
electrical welders; RF equipment (e.g. plastic welders, wood gluers, diathermic apparatus, microwave dryers
and ovens); DC motors or sliprings; and similar %oisyl’ apparatus. HV, MV supplies (>250/440V) should also
be treated as class 4, as should the cables to RF transmitting antennae and unsuppressed inductive loads.
All class 4 cables should use screened cables and connectors where possible. Air-insulated high-power
busbars and high-voltage distribution cannot be screened themselves, so other cable classes in proXimity to
these may need to be protected by additional shielding or very much greater spacing. Armouring should also
be used as a screen, but its effective use demands reliable 360’ electrical bonding methods at all joints and
terminations, and even so armour does not provide a very good screen for high frequencies.
Segregation of electrical and electronic units inside a cabinet is achieved by positioning noisy units well
away from sensitive units to prevent electromagnetic coupling between them, and also so that different cable
classes do not come close to each
other or cross more often than is
absolutely necessary.
This sketch shows the real-life layout
of a small pneumatics control cabinet
with one inverter drive.
Notice that for reasons of space, and
because the class 1 cables were not
judged to be very sensitive types, the
class 1 and 2 cables were both routed Area for pneumatic,
in the same trunking.
As has been done in this example, it is relays and contactors
generally best to position variable-
speed drives closest to cable entry
points, to minimise the lengths of
class 4 cables inside a cabinet.
The next sketch shows a detail of the
cabling to the door mounted controls and electronic units for the above pneumatics control cabinet.
These cables exit the backplate (which is
EMC-earth bonded as described later) at
one of its mounting bolts which is also a
bonding point to the cabinet wall, and
run close to the structural metalwork of
the cabinet’s body.
They must not run against removable
panels, unless the cabinet is an EMC-
shielded type.
Where they cross the door hinge they are
strapped to a short wide earth strap
which bonds the door to the cabinet
body, and then run close to the door’s
metalwork.

EMC earth bonding in cabinets

Star earthing is useless for EMC, as are wires (too much
inductance). Instead we use meshes, areas, and volumes.
To achieve an “EMC-earth” at the high frequencies used Direct metal-to-metal
earth bonding is
by modem technologies requires very many very small much better than any
ground loops. This does not create a problem with ground wire or braid for EMC
loops if the other best EMC practices described here are
also used. The traditional practice of avoiding ground
loops is poor for EMC, and also nowadays known to be
poor practice for signal integrity and equipment
reliability.
So we use backplates (zinc or tin plated), cabinet walls,
etc, as our EMC-earth, and connect to them as directly as
possible (preferably metal-to-metal at multiple points).
We can often use EMC earth bonding system as the protective (safety) earth,which makes more room in cable
bundles and trunking and also saves assembly time (check with the relevant safety standard).
All EMC-earth bonds should make a good reliable electrical
KwP unavoidable EMGearth Wires short connection over the life of the product, and attention is
needed to bond surface preparation, reliable electrical
bonding, anti-vibration measures, and protection from
corrosion. Thread-locking compounds should never be used
on any electrical bonds (for any purpose) as they increase the
bond resistance unpredictably.
Where plastic bodied units are used, their earth terminals
should be bonded to the EMC-earth using the shortest and
heaviest-gauge wire or braid possible, using a captive nut,
threaded hole, or even a nut-and-bolt arrangement.
This sketch shows EMCearthing
details for the above pneumatics control
cabinet.
The backplate is bonded to the cabinet
wall at every mounting, and all earth
wires and door straps are kept as short
as possible.
Bonding cable screens and the
use of PECs
Modem electronic technologies use
such high fiequencies that cable screens
must be bonded to their local EMC-
earth at both ends. Excessive screen
currents are avoided by running
screened cables along a parallel earth
conductor (PEC) with a much lower
resistance. Inside a cabinet the bonded
metal structure or backplate acts as a PEC. (PEG and Example of cable screen termination in
equipotential bonding in installations is covered later.) connector backshell (suits all cable dasses)
Screened cables are capable of much greater EMC Shield clamped 360° Metal (-is&) backshell
shielding performance than is traditionally achieved when metal-tometal
their screens are correctly terminated at both ends using (must be a tight dam
shielded connectors, “EMC” glands, saddleclamps, Pclips,
and the like, as shown by these two figures.

Thoughtful manufacturers of electronic units provide

correct terminations for screened connectors, or else
provide screen clamps.
Pigtails do not allow screened cables to shield
correctly. Tests have shown that even a 25mm pigtail
can ruin cable screening even at the low frequency
(these days) of 70MHz.
Where especially EMC-indifferent Class 2 or 3 cables
are connected via DIN rail terminals (or similar), short pigtails may be acceptable but they are always a risk
for EMC. Pigtails should always be routed alongside their cable’s conductors, positioning their earth terminals

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 Pigtailing cable screens
(e.g. at DIN-rail terminals)
Very poor for EMC,
so only use for espeaally insensitive
or non-interfering Class 2 or 3 cables
Metal-metalbonds
alongside their conductor terminals (and not bunching
at each rail all the greedyellow terminals at one end of a DIN rail
mounting for neatness).
To control EMC-earth bonding and cable-screen
termination, all design drawings must identify the
method to be used for every earth bond. Creating
Work Instructions (WIs) with detail drawings of each
method best does this. Panel designers and assemblers
can then avoid misunderstandings by using the

pigtails stay close to their

signal wires
-
panel drawings), using the necessary WI numbers.
appropriate WI numbers, along with the usual
symbols for earths and chassis connections. Designers
should translate the EMC instructions accompanying
purchased units into assembly instructions (e.g. on the

Checking for gross errors in the EM quality of cable screens and termination, and connector assembly, such as
incorrect assembly (e.g. pi@s inside a screened backshell) is quite easy to do on the factory floor (for
emissions at least) using a close-field EM probe.
Filtering
Filtering is an alternative to cable screening, and is usually applied to power cables. It is difficult to choose
filters because filter data sheet performance is often not achieved in practice. However, it is possible to use a
full set of mismatched filter data to make a worst-case estimate of the filter attenuation achieved in real life.
Filters can interact unfavourably with each other too, so two filters in series are not necessarily better than
either one on its own.
Poor assembly often compromises filter performance. Filter input and output cables must be rigorously
segregated, since they are at least one cable class apart. Filters must bond metal-to-metal to the EMC-earth at
each of their mounting points. They should be mounted at the point where an external cable first enters the
EMC-earthed area of the cabinet. In the pneumatic cabinet example above the supply filter was fitted
immediately after the door isolator, because the motor drive had its own supply filter, but in general it is best
to fit a supply filter before the door isolator (requiring appropriate safety precautions). Checking for gross
errors in filter EM performance, such as those caused by poor assembly, is quite easy to do on the factory
floor (as far as emissions are concerned) with a close-field probe.
Shielded cabinets
Shielded cabinets are expensive, and easy to compromise by traditional assembly practices. It is much easier
and lower-cost to purchase electronic units with the required emissions and immunity performance and
assemble them using the backplate earthing and other techniques described above. It must be taken into
account that shielding performance is voided whenever the doors or inspection panels of a shelded cabinet are
opened (e.g. for servicing or adjustment). It may prove better (and cheaper) to shield the susceptible or noisy
units themselves with an internal shielded box,
rather than to shield an entire cabinet.
When using a shielded cabinet, its outer
boundary becomes the EMC earth for all
external cables, whereas the backplate remains
the EMC-earth for internal cables.
All cables entering or leaving shielded cabinets
must be 360" shield-bonded or adequately
filtered at their point of entry. 360" shield
bonding means a continuous metal-to-metal
contact between the circumference of the cable
shield and the Circumference of the metal
aperture it passes through, and can employ
EMC glands or 360' shielding connectors.
It is often necessary to continue cable shields
right inside the cabinet and bond them to EMC-earth again at the unit the cable is connected to. Cable
armouring should be treated as if it were a cable screen (although not usually continued inside a cabinet).
Ventilation apertures will need shielding grilles (high-
performance cabinets will need “honeycomb metal’’ Shield-bonding daors and grand plates
grilles), and displays will need shielding too, and these EMC gasket needs conductive metal contact
shields must be 360’ bonded all around their apertures rn Choose materials, plating to prevent corrosion
using gaskets Or Plates and Show all details cleariy on the cabinet drawing
doors must also be EMC-bonded all around the edges of
their apertures, as shown by this sketch. It is sometimes Doororplate
possible (for lower-performance shielding) to use multiple
bonds instead of a continuous EMC gasket.
Where an unshielded display, meter, or similar unit must
penetrate the door of a shielded cabinet, the clean box / Conductive metal
duty box technique may be used, shown below. surface under gasket
The bonding of the “dirty” box to the door is very
important (multiple bonds, at least every l O O m m , EMC
gaskets for highest performance). It may be necessary to
fit a small high-frequency filter to the unit’s cables at the
point where they enter or leave the duty box.

Outside
world

Similar clean/dtrty box technique may be used for = the inside of the
wired chassis-mount filters. Bulkhead-mounted shielded cabinet
filters are the best, and many are available built into
bulkhead mounted connectors. Bulkhead filters for
higher powers tend to be expensive, and this
technique allows lower-cost filters to be used.
Input and output cables in the dirty box must be very
short and as & as possible from each other. Even so, an additional (small) high-frequency filter may still be
needed at one or both of the dlrty
Example of a “clean/dirty” box cable penetrations.
segregated shielded cabinet An alternative may be to run either
the input or output cables in solid
metal conduit glanded to the filter
case, and some filters are designed
to accept conduit for this reason.
The sketch on the left shows an
example of a cabinet divided into
two volumes, one b‘clean” and the
(no unshielded an other “tiirty”.
unfiltered cables)
This can also be achieved by
welding or multiple-bolting two
cabinets together, one (usually
smaller) being the dirty box and
the other being the clean box.

716
This sketch shows overview details of
connecting two shielded cabinets
together.
Notice that the electronic units
enclosur
connected together via the screened
cable do not use the shield of their
screened cable as their current return,
instead they use a dedicated
conductor.
CO-axial cables always combine their
shielding and signal return currents in
the same screen, which can lead to
difficulties. Screened twisted-pairs (or
similar) with internal conductors for 1
7
signal and power return currents, are
much preferred. \ >
unshieyded cables
(all filtered)
a1
\ I 4
Parallel Earth Co\ductor
PEC (e.g. cable tray)
All cables between the cabinets are
routed along a PEC that is bonded to both cabinets at their connection panels.
Best EMC practices in installations
There are five essential best practices here, and they will be seen to be related to those described above:
Segregation of apparatus and supplies
Segregating apparatus and supplies
3-Dmesh equipotential bonding
Bonding cable screens at both ends
Parallel earth conductors (PECs)
Cable spacings and routing
Segregation of apparatus and supplies Geographically grouped apparatus,
groups segregated from each other
Firstly it is vital to segregate an installation's
apparatus and supplies into geographically separate
groups right from the start of any project.
This is very easy to do, and can save enormous
amounts of time and cost later on. This sketch shows
i1_____________
, L
an example of such segregation.
3-0mesh equipotential bonding
This sketch shows the recommended 3-D mesh equipotential earth bonding
equipotential bonding scheme for a site, Maximum mesh dimension anywhere on site: I 3 metres
sometimes referred to as mesh bonding or 3-D
bonding. Heavy current equipment requires a
closer mesh to prevent high voltage drops in the
case of leakage or fault currents.
High-frequency equipment (such as computer or
telecomm's rooms) also requires a close mesh to
prevent voltage drops due to earth inductance.
Sensitive instrumentation may also require a
close mesh because it is vulnerable to voltage
drops at any frequency.
In some situations solid metal floors are Power distribution Instrumentation
required to provide the necessary room room
equipotentiality .

717
Meshing help protect equipment
against the damaging effects of Equipotential bonding for structures
lightning surges, and surge arrestors
won't fkction correctly unless they i Structural steelwork7 lSafety/-
have a good quality meshed earth to
connect to. For lightning protection,
no pirt of a site should have a mesh
size greater than 5 metres, in any
dimension.
It is common practice to use re-bars,
structural metalwork, and any other
metalwork to help achieve this, as
shown here.
Bonding should be metal-to-metal,
although short conductors may be
used instead with some loss of high-
frequency protection.

Bonding conductors
(use direct rnetal-to-metal bonding instead wherever possible) Equipotential bonding of cable trays and ducts
Long wire is poor for
n n
high frequencies

Minimum wire
length is better Short, wide braid straps would be better than wires
(preferably one on each side)
Short, wide braid
strap is better still

Short wide metal

plates with multiple
U-brackets with multiple fixings are better still
fixings are best
Bot seamwelded joints are the best
It has been common practice to treat a meshed
earthing structure as a safety feature only to be improved when potential differences exceed 5OV - but this is
no longer appropriate. Where a new installation is going into an old building without an adequate earth mesh,
special earthing and bonding techniques are required if the new installation is not to suffer due to the poor EM
quality of the existing installation, especially for computer rooms and the like.
Bonding cable screens at both ends
As described above, cable screens only function properly when they are bonded 360" at both ends. Excessive
screen currents are prevented by running cables along a parallel earth conductor (PEC) which will divert the
power leakage and fault currents away from the higher-resistance cable screens. Cables should remain close to
their PECs at all times, to minimise circulating currents caused by power magnetic fields. For very long cable
runs or very polluted EM environments, it may be necessary to expose cable screens and armour every ten
metres or so and bond them to their PEC with a saddleclamp or similar.
Where no suitable equipotential earthing structure exists it has been traditional to connect cable screens at one
end to prevent earth loop currents. This technique is no longer effective, except in special circumstances,
because of the poor EMC performance achieved (wasting the abilities of the screened cables), but also
because during fault conditions and lightning surges this can cause damage to moden! electronics and even
cause electric shock and fire hazards.
Where equipotential bonding is not available, cables should all be run over substantial PECs bonded to the
local earth at both ends (usually an equipment cabinet wall or motor frame). Alternatively, lightning bamers
may be used, and in the absence of a well-meshed earth they should be galvanically isolating types.
 Parallel earth conductors (PECs)
Here are some sketches showing alternative types of Some parallel earth conductors
PECs, using heavy gauge wires, strips, trays, ducts, (lower number = better for high frequency EMC)
conduit, structural metalwork, and how best to run
cables along them.

.,
[PE- always bonded at junctions. and to local earth at both md.1
I Cable run against a
bonded date or

J Cables should never “fly through the air” unless they

at least have a sturdy wire PEC strapped to them.

Using
- equipotentially-bonded metalwork

For safety reasons PECs should be capable of as PECS (e.g.an~-beem)

handling the highest fault currents they may be
exposed to (in a well-meshed system these currents
will be smaller than in a sparsely meshed system.
Cable spacings and routing
The figure below shows the minimum spacings
between cable classes (see above), based on a 30
metre run close to a common PEC. Longer parallel

Minimum spacings between cable classes

when run over a single PEC

runs should use greater spacings. Cables should

ideally be kept within 25mm of a PEC, and t h ~ sis
more important for especially sensitive or noisy
cables.
Internal comer runs in a PEC are better for EMC,
and should be reserved for especially sensitive or
noisy cables. Cable spacings may be able to be
I

These are mihimums for cables run close to a single PEC for up to 30
metres. For longer runs multiply by: length (rmtm~)+ 30
I S,eg;oatinn cables in travs HI
p
reduced if metal dividers are used between classes, Z
or when additional cable screens are used throughout
(and bonded to EMC-earth at both ends). -0
3
Running individual classes in their own closed metal $
ducts or round conduit PECs allows the spacing
between to be shrunk to zero (but avoid running 2
E
classes 1 and 4 close together even so).
g
P

This sketch shows how cable classes may be split

between two (or more) vertically-stacked trays. \Corner runs give better EMC

719
 Installation cable routing
Cables of all classes should follow the same
route between items of equipment, to All cables follow the
minimise circulating currents caused by same route between
power magnetic fields, as sketched here. cabinets and other
electrical apparatus
Summary J

instrumentation panels have been briefly

introduced, with a number of sketches. Each apparatus
should have a
single connedion
panel (or side)

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