Low stray inductance bus bar design and construction for good EMC performance in power electronic circuits

Ten years after the publication of the EC Directive 89/336 on electromagnetic compatibility, the impact of this directive on design and lay-out of modern electrical and electronic equipment can be observed. Many research and development studies have proposed and evaluated detailed improvements in the area of component design, component selection, circuit lay-out, shielding and active and passive filtering. New and innovative solutions to minimize noise, especially common mode conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI), in power electronic circuits continue to be developed. In this paper, the authors investigate to what extent EMI caused by power electronic devices in hard switching inverter topologies can be minimized using ultra-low inductive planar busbars. The concept followed in this study is to tackle EMI directly at the source where most EMI is generated; in other words, to reduce the parasitic magnetic energy stored in the inverter DC link to reduce high voltage spikes during switching. A planar busbar was built, tested and analyzed. Measurements show the validity of the theoretical, but simple, design procedure for planar busbars in power converters.