TWITL – Vibration Testing Automotive ECU
This Week In The Lab: This fuel injector controller has to withstand significant levels of vibration being mounted inside the engine bay of a high performance racing car. The manufacturer and end user can’t afford a field failure so we are giving it a literal shakedown. We are also monitoring the live performance during testing […]
TWITL – Shield Prototyping for Sensitive Detectors
This Week In The Lab: prototyping a shielding can for some sensitive detectors. The customer’s equipment contained some hazardous gas detectors. Despite a good circuit design, one of these sensors wasn’t too happy when tested at industrial 10V/m levels for radiated RF immunity. EN 50270:2015 imposes some fairly tight limits on the allowed measurement deviation […]
TWITL – Underwater Camera System Industrial EMC Testing
This Week In The Lab: a nicely engineered underwater camera and lighting system. All beautifully turned, milled and TIG welded stainless steel, this thing can go deep and withstand some rough treatment. It was seriously heavy! The exact installation environment wasn’t known. Since it was expected to be operated in harsh conditions we opted to test to […]
Apple Multi-Purpose EMC/EMI Shielding
I’ve always been impressed with Apple’s approach to reducing problems caused by EMC/EMI. Making top of the line technology in a compact case means minimising risk and maximising performance. Let’s look at an example of well considered EMC design and why it is so useful. Even the EMI shielding solutions are stylish Because their […]
Off The Shelf and Non-Compliant Power Supplies (from Amazon)
A customer had purchased some power supplies from Amazon UK to get started with the development on their product. And why not? There are lots of cheap products available and everyone has a budget to meet. The chances are that they’ll get damaged, lost or broken anyway. They were happy with the (perceived) quality of […]
Useful Test Adapters for EMC Testing and Electronics Development
Working in an EMC test lab means I get to see all kinds of equipment. No two devices are ever the same so I have to make up / adapt cables to interface various devices. If you work with a wide range of products or just want a bit more versatility in your lab then […]
Simple RF Current Transformer for EMC / EMI Investigation
This post contains some background info related to the video I posted on YouTube on how to make a simple RF current transformer, a great tool for debugging EMC / EMI issues such as radiated emissions from cables, or tracing conducted RF immunity noise paths. RF current transformers (or probes) are commercially available products from […]
LED Lights, the “Bulb Ban” and EMC / Radio Interference
I’ve just published a new article on LinkedIn titled “LED Lights, the “Bulb Ban” and Resultant EMC / RFI Issues“ where I look at potential EMC effects from increased adoption of LED bulbs following recent EU legislation. If you check it out I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Please hit comment on the LinkedIn post.
RS-232 to USB Converters – EMC Problems Part Two
A while ago, I wrote about EMC immunity problems with USB to serial converters and how it was easy to fix with a small 100pF capacitor to ground on the TXD and RXD lines for a bit of filtering. Well, now I’ve found the opposite problem of EMC radiated emissions failures caused by these periodically […]
Busy, and a Birthday
It has been a very busy few months at Unit 3 Compliance; it feels like the chamber turntable hasn’t stopped spinning. There has been a wide range of products through the door from prosthetics to video wall controllers, from high spec IoT products to motion sensors, from lighting power supplies to RF amplifiers. I really […]
