Best EMC practices for electrical and electronic assembly and installation

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 EMC practices contradict "traditional" techniques. This paper is a guide to the major best EMC practices. 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 instrumentation cabinets; and best EMC practices for installations.