Experiments to Quantify the Shielding Efficacy of Materials to be Implemented for Portable Shielding Enclosures that Adequately Mitigate EMI from Lighting Attachment Events

Mitigating electric and magnetic fields induced by lightning strike events is critical for the security and longevity of electrical components. Electromagnetic interference originating from a lightning strike is categorized into the low to medium frequency ranges, commonly referred to as the “magnetic coupling’’ regime. This low-frequency characteristic brings about the problem of shielding magnetic flux lines. Such shielding can be accomplished with highly conductive materials via the generation of eddy currents or by diverting the flux lines using materials with a large relative permeability. The shielding effectiveness of materials with varying thicknesses and geometry are tested using a pulse forming network having comparable characteristics to a scaled lighting strike. A four-stage Marx generator with a peak current of $\sim$33kA and a risetime of 1.4 $\mu$s is used as the pulse forming network to emulate the scaled electric and magnetic fields. The data collected from these experiments provide information and techniques that can be implemented into the design of a portable, deployable shielding enclosure.