EMC/EMI/ESD Standards for Information Technology Equipment (ITE)

dBi Corporation


A2LA Accredited Laboratory
Certificate Number 1985-01

John R. Barnes KS4GL, PE, NCE, NCT, ESDC Eng, ESDC Tech, PSE, SM IEEE
December 23, 2009
jrbarnes@iglou.com

Information technology equipment (ITE) is electrical/ electronic equipment that inputs, stores, modifies, or outputs data. Some typical examples are:

If ITE products are unintentional radiators, and may be used in residential, commercial, and light-industry environments, most nations require them to meet:

If ITE products are unintentional radiators, and are to be used only in industrial environments, most nations only require them to meet:

The European Union (EU), Australia, and New Zealand also require ITE products to meet:

Thus, to be sold worldwide, (unintentional radiator) ITE products must meet:

Combining all of these requirements:

Radiated Emissions must be measured from (FCC Part 15-2008 Paragraph 15.33(b)(1)):

Class B Radiated Emissions limits are:

Class A Radiated Emissions limits are:

Class B Conducted Emissions on AC plugs must be measured from 150kHz-30MHz, with the limits:

Class A Conducted Emissions on AC plugs must be measured from 150kHz-30MHz, with the limits:

Class B Conducted Emissions on phone lines, telecommunication ports and network ports must be measured from 150kHz-30MHz, with the limits:

Class A Conducted Emissions on phone lines, telecommunication ports and network ports must be measured from 150kHz-30MHz, with the limits:

Personal computers, personal computer monitors, and television sets, with a rated power <=600W, must meet the EN 61000-3-2 (AS/NZS 61000.3.2) Class D (Table 3) Harmonics limits. Lighting equipment must meet the Class C (Table 2) Harmonics limits. Portable tools and non-professional arc-welding equipment must meet the Class B (1.5 times Table 1) Harmonics limits. All other products must meet Class A (Table 1) Harmonics limits. Section 7 exempts certain products from these Harmonics requirements:

ITE products that are unlikely to produce significant voltage fluctuations, or flicker, do not have to be tested for Flicker (EN 61000.3.2 Section 6,1). Otherwise ITE products must be tested to EN 61000-3-3 (AS/NZS 61000.3.3).

ITE products must meet EN 61000-4-2 (AS/NZS 61000.4.2) to Performance Criterion B for Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) up to:

Indirect discharges to the horizontal coupling plane and vertical coupling plane only have to be tested at +/-4kV. Contact and air discharges to the product must be tested at the limit voltages and at intermediate voltages.

ITE products must meet EN 61000-4-3 (AS/NZS 61000.4.3) to performance criterion A for radiated electromagnetic fields with 80% amplitude modulation at 1kHz, at 3V/m for 80-1000MHz.

For the next three sets of tests, if an ITE product is supplied with an alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) adapter, we test the adapter's AC input, and do not test the adapter's DC output or the product's DC input.

ITE products must meet EN 61000-4-4 (AS/NZS 61000.4.4) to performance criterion B for Electrical Fast Transient/Bursts (EFTB) at 5kHz, at

ITE products must meet EN 61000-4-5 (AS/NZS 61000.4.5) to performance criterion B for Surges, at

For surge tests, the product must be tested at the limit voltages and at intermediate voltages.

ITE products must meet EN 61000-4-6 (AS/NZS 61000.4.6) to performance criterion A for Conducted Immunity with 80% amplitude modulation at 1kHz, for 150KHz-80MHz, at:

ITE products must meet EN 61000-4-8 (AS/NZS 61000.4.8) to performance criterion A for 1A/m magnetic fields at 50Hz and 60Hz.

ITE products must meet EN 61000-4-11 (AS/NZS 61000.4.11) to performance criterion B for Voltage Dips to 0V for 1/2 cycles on AC voltage inputs.

Products must meet EN 61000-4-11 (AS/NZS 61000.4.11) to performance criterion C on AC voltage inputs, for:

DISCLAIMER
These web pages are freely offered to anyone who wishes to use them. No warranty for their use is expressed or implied. The most-current versions may be downloaded from the our web site at http://www.dbicorporation.com/.

These web pages can point you to regulations and standards applying to your product(s), but please refer to the regulations and standards themselves when deciding how to test your product(s). A regulation's or standard's title gives you strong clues as to what it covers, but its scope (usually section 1) tells you for sure. Carefully check the footnotes in tables, to see if your product falls into an exception that lets you avoid unnecessary tests (or sometimes requires additional special testing). Exceptions that can help you also sometimes hide in the Test Setup section (usually section 7). Also check the Test Report section (usually section 10) for any special documentation required.

COMMENTS
If you refer to one or more of these documents in written communications, please attribute them to http://www.dbicorporation.com/. Similarly, if you link to them from your own web page(s), we would appreciate an E-mail to jrbarnes@iglou.com giving the universal resource link (URL) so that we may provide a reciprocal link.

Please send critiques, corrections, and/or additions to jrbarnes@iglou.com , or by snailmail to:
John Barnes
dBi Corporation
216 Hillsboro Ave
Lexington, KY 40511-2105

Robust Electronic Design, Inc. is the research arm of dBi Corporation, an A2LA-accredited EMC/EMI/ESD testing and consulting company based in Lexington, Kentucky. Our staff has been directly involved in putting over 115 major electronic products into mass production at Sycor, IBM, and Lexmark, as well as doing the EMC/ EMI/ ESD engineering tests and FCC/ CE-Marking approval tests for over 231 products and 3 testers developed by clients-- bringing them into compliance with both domestic and international laws and standards. Our staff has also served as an expert witness on electronics in three lawsuits. We have over 36 years experience in the computer and electronics industries developing electronic products and electronic equipment that:
  1. Work.
  2. Are safe and reliable.
  3. Can be manufactured, tested, repaired, and serviced economically.
  4. May be sold and used worldwide.
  5. Can be easily adapted/enhanced to meet new and changing requirements.

Our President, John R. Barnes, is a Professional Engineer (PE) licensed in the state of Kentucky, a NARTE-Certified Electromagnetic Compatibility Engineer (NCE), a NARTE-Certified Electromagnetic Compatibility Technician (NCT), a NARTE-Certified Electrostatic Discharge Control Engineer (ESDC Eng), a NARTE-Certified Electrostatic Discharge Control Technician (ESDC Tech), a NARTE-Certified Product Safety Engineer (PSE), a Senior Member of the IEEE (SM IEEE), and an Advanced-class amateur radio operator. He has written three books: Electronic System Design: Interference and Noise Control Techniques, which was published in English in 1987 and in Russian in 1990; and Robust Electronic Design Reference Book, Volumes I and II, which came out in 2004. John has also written articles on designing electronics for electrostatic discharge (ESD) immunity for Printed Circuit Design and Conformity magazines.

Robust Electronic Design, Inc. and dBi Corporation may be contacted by:

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Last revised December 23, 2009.