Method for simulating a controlled voltage for testing circuits for electromagnetic susceptibility

• Main Author: ROGERS; WESLEY A
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 18.11.1997
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: MEASURING; MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES; PHYSICS; TESTING

Apparatus and method for low cost monitoring the level of signal at a test point in a system for susceptibility to electromagnetic fields. A probe, including a detector diode, and a non-metallic, electrically overdamped conductor, which is transparent to the electromagnetic field, is used to monitor the signal level at a test point as an amplitude modulated radio frequency carrier. The carrier is transmitted to a monitor outside of the range of the electromagnetic field using a transmission link, such as an optical waveguide transmitter, that is transparent to the electromagnetic field when the system under test fails. The system under test can then be removed from the electromagnetic field and, for each frequency at which the system failed, a voltage can be injected, using a voltage injection probe, into the system at another point to recreate the detected level of signal at the test point that was coupled into the system from the electromagnetic field. This simulates the effect of the susceptibility to the electromagnetic field, and permits testing of a suitable filter or other expedient applied to the system, even though the system is not exposed to the electromagnetic field. Thus, the system may be tested for susceptibility inside a shielded enclosure and subjected to a controlled electromagnetic field, and the susceptibility may be recreated and solved outside of the shielded enclosure. The probe may include a plurality of detector diodes mounted on a printed circuit board in a shielded structure that is directly connected to the test wire of the circuit to be monitored.