So what are conducted emissions? The term conducted emissions refers to the mechanism that enables electromagnetic energy to be created in an electronic and coupled to an AC power cord. The allowable conductive emissions from electronic devices are controlled by regulatory bodies. If a product passes radiated emission testing for example but fails a conducted emissions test, the product cannot be legally sold.

The primary reason that conductive emissions are regulated is that electromagnetic energy that is coupled to a product’s power cord can find its way to the entire distribution network. This causes problems with power factor and the reactive power caused by the summation of lots of devices connected to the network can cause transforms at energy supply sub-stations to overheat and fail.

Controlling conducted emissions is an inherent problem that requires planning in the design phase. Selecting the appropriate control measures within the design and implementing them in an effective manner is critical to success.  The EMC design measures selected must not conflict with operational requirements yet satisfy EMC product compliance testing.

Every country requires all electronic products to be compliant with conducted emissions EMC standards, we would strongly recommend that compliance should be checked as an iterative process, using an EMC test house i.e. don’t wait until a product is launched before starting testing, as change at this stage could be extremely costly and could also result in long shipment delays and lost orders.

KBO Dynamics can provide low cost UK EMC testing at all stages during product development. We also work with other EMC Test Labs throughout the UK.