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7:1:Cab:5:2 March 25 1997 EMC & Cable Screening

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Reproduced this article with permission from Pirelli Cables.

EMC

work in close proximity with one another without causing mutual interference. EMC, in so far as it is associated with telecommunication system cables, requires that they be adequately screened against the influence of external electric and/or electromagnetic fields, which could adversely affect their operation or give rise to dangerous induced voltages. Similarly, cables and their operating regimes should be designed to minimise the generation of disturbing fields which might adversely affect other cables or telecommunication equipment. Because the phenomena giving rise to EMC requirements is electrical in nature, screening is generally only applicable where transmission is over metallic conductors. The transmission of information by light over optical fibres, whilst still a form of electromagnetic energy, is constrained by the guiding mechanism of the fibre so as to be effectively nonradiating (unless expressly designed otherwise) and, at the same time, not susceptible to interference from external electric fields.

ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC) is the ability of any electrically operated equipment or system to

Protection against electrical interference consists of breaking or limiting the coupling between disturbing and disturbed circuits. This can involve screening, isolation and earthing or a judicious combination of these techniques.

Cable Screening

An intrinsic Screening Factor (SF) can be associated with any cable which has a metallic sheath or screen. Screening Factor, a dimensionless number between 0 and 1, is defined as the absolute value of the ratio of the resultant voltage, to that voltage which would appear on a disturbed conductor in the absence of a screen or sheath. In the two extremes then, an SF of 0 represents total screening whilst an SF of 1 would afford no screening properties whatsoever. Cable screening mitigates against the effect of voltage induction from nearby electrostatic and/or electromagnetic fields. Two separate approaches are required in mitigation.

Electrostatic Screening

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Electric fields as distinct from electromagnetic fields can be intercepted and are such that they will terminate on the exterior of an enclosing metal screen of a cable without penetrating the thickness of the metal. All conductors, which are situated within and surrounded by the screen, are therefore effectively isolated from the effect of an electric field and will not be adversely affected by it.

It is not necessary for electrostatic screening purposes, for the metal of the screen to be of a ferro-magnetic material. However, for it to be effective, it must be electrically continuous both longitudinally and circumferentially ie. there should be no gaps or longitudinal seams in it and it should be securely earthed. The efficiency of an electrostatic screen of this nature increases with increasing frequency of the pervading field and it is effective on both aerial and buried cables.

Electromagnetic Screening

Unlike an electric field a magnetic field cannot be intercepted by a metallic screen. Effective screening against magnetic induction requires the use of a metallic screen of a highly conductive material, copper or aluminium for example, which allows a large induced current to flow along its length. This induced current will establish an electromagnetic field around itself, of opposite direction to the original field, which it tends to counteract and thus provides the screening effect.

In order for current to flow in the screen it is essential that the screen be earthed, preferably with multiple earths along its length. The screening efficiency can be improved (a lower SF) by making the total reactance of the sheath much larger than its resistance. This can be achieved by (i) reducing the sheath resistance and (ii) increasing its inductance. The addition of steel tape armour to the cable provides additional inductance due to the magnetic flux in it. However, the permeability of the iron in the steel tape armour depends on the intensity of the induced current. At low field strengths, and at a frequency of 50Hz, the resultant screening factor is high, reducing with increasing induction, passing through a minimum at a field strength of about 200V/km and then increasing again as the iron becomes saturated. At these field strengths the steel tape armour offers no further reduction in so far as its screening properties are concerned.

In a practical situation some screening against electromagnetic induction may be attained by the deployment of compensating conductors in a sacrificial manner - buried earth wires in proximity of the cable or by the proximity of other metal sheathed cables or pipes.

Calculation of Induced Voltage - an Example

In the event of a phase-to-earth fault in an overhead power line, a large AC current will flow in the earth. This current will cause a longitudinal voltage to appear on the copper pairs of a buried cable which runs parallel to the power line. The magnitude of the induced voltage depends on:

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the fault current, I kA, the length of the parallelism, L km, the mutual inductance between the buried cable and earth, M m H/km,

the separation distance between the communication cable and the power line, d m, the soil resistivity, r ohm.m, and the system screening factor, k.

The value of mutual inductance is usually read directly from a graph where it is plotted against separation distance with soil resistivity as a parameter . (The graph is plotted using theoretical formulae derived by Carson and Pollaczek.)

The induced voltage

E is given by:-

E = w .M.I.L.k x10-3 V, given:-

a line voltage of 132 kV and frequency 50 Hz, d = 18.5 m, r = 100 ohm.m, L = 9 km, M = 800 m H/km (from graph), and k between 0-1.

This gives

E = 314 x 800 x 3.85 x 9 x k x 10 -3 V = 8704 x k V

The CCITT directives consider induced voltages greater than 460 V to be dangerous. Therefore, in this particular instance, a cable screening factor of 0.05 would be required in order to meet the CCITT directive. In order for a cable to exhibit such good screening, it would require a highly conductive sheath and a double helically applied steel tape. It would also need to be earthed at frequent intervals (say 1 km) over the length of its exposure.

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