2/20/2016 Cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation|EEP

Home Technical Articles Article Categories El. Enginering Guides

EE General guides
Power Substations
Schneider Electric CTs
Siemens Basics of EE
ABB Drives Guides
Industry Automation
Relay control/protection
Alternative Energy

Electrical Software MS Excel Spreadsheets Electrical Design Docs Engineering Resources

Electrical Engineering (VIDEO)

PLC Programming Training (VIDEO)
Electric Testing and Maintenance (VIDEO)
Network Theorems

Contact us Subscribe to articles Subscribe to downloads

Cablespacingasameansofnoise
mitigation

Cable spacing as a means of noise mitigation (photo credit: antec.com.au)

Separationdistances
In situations where there are a large number of cables varying in voltage and current levels, the IEEE 518-1982
standard has developed a useful set of tables indicating separation distances for the various classes of cables.

There are four classification levels of susceptibility for cables.

Susceptibility, in this context, is understood to be an indication of how well the signal circuit can differentiate
between the undesirable noise and required signal. It follows that a data communication physical standard such as
RS-232E would have a high susceptibility, and a 1000-V, 200-A AC cable has a low susceptibility.

http://electricalengineeringportal.com/cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation 1/5
2/20/2016 Cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation|EEP

IEEE5181982standard

The four susceptibility levels defined by the IEEE 518 1982 standard are briefly:

Level 1 (High) This is defined as analog signals less than 50 V and digital signals less than 15 V. This would
include digital logic buses and telephone circuits. Data communication cables fall into this category.

Level 2 (Medium) This category includes analog signals greater than 50 V and switching circuits.

Level 3 (Low) This includes switching signals greater than 50 V and analog signals greater than 50 V. Currents
less than 20 A are also included in this category.

Level 4 (Power) This includes voltages in the range 01000 V and currents in the range 20800 A. This applies
to both AC and DC circuits.

The IEEE 518 also provides for three different situations when calculating the separation distance required
between the various levels of susceptibilities. In considering the specific case where one cable is a high-
susceptibility cable and the other cable has a varying susceptibility, the required separation distance would vary as
follows:

Both cables contained in a separate tray:

Level 1 to level 2-30 mm

http://electricalengineeringportal.com/cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation 2/5
2/20/2016 Cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation|EEP

Level 1 to level 3-160 mm

Level 1 to level 4-670 mm

One cable contained in a tray and the other in conduit:

Level 1 to level 2-30 mm

Level 1 to level 3-110 mm
Level 1 to level 4-460 mm

Both cables contained in separate conduit:

Level 1 to level 2-30 mm

Level 1 to level 3-80 mm
Level 1 to level 4-310 mm.

The figures are approximate as the original standard is quoted in inches.

Traysandconduits

Cable tray/conduit (photo credit: Legrand)

A few words need to be said about the construction of the trays and conduits. It is expected that the trays are
manufactured from metal and be firmly earthed with complete continuity throughout the length of the tray. The
trays should also be fully covered preventing the possibility of any area being without shielding.

Briefly galvanic noise can easily be avoided by refraining from the use of a shared signal reference conductor, in

http://electricalengineeringportal.com/cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation 3/5
2/20/2016 Cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation|EEP

other words, keeping the two signal channels galvanically separate so that no interference takes place.

Electromagnetic induction can be minimized in several ways. One way is to put the source of electromagnetic
flux within a metallic enclosure, a magnetic screen. Such a screen restricts the flow of magnetic flux from going
beyond its periphery so that it cannot interfere with external conductors. A similar screen around the receptor
of EMI can mitigate noise by not allowing flux lines inside its enclosure but to take a path along the plane of its
surface.

Physical separation between the noise source and the receptor will also reduce magnetic coupling and therefore the interference.

Twistingofsignalconductors
Twisting of signal conductors is another way to reduce EMI. The polarity of induced voltage will be reversed at
each twist along the length of the signal cable and will cancel out the noise voltage. These are called twisted pair
cables.

Multishield cable (Foil and Braid) photo credit: multicable.com

Electrostatic interference can be prevented or at least minimized by the use of shields. A shield is usually made
of a highly conductive material such as copper, which is placed in the path of coupling. An example is the use of
a shield, which is placed around a signal conductor.

When a noise voltage tries to flow across the capacitance separating two conductors, say a power and a signal
conductor (actually through the insulation of the conductors), it encounters the conducting screen, which is
connected to ground. The result is that the noise is diverted to ground through the shield rather than flowing
through the higher impedance path to the other conductor.

If the shield is not of a high conductive material, the flow of the diverted current through the shield can cause a
local rise of voltage in the shield, which can cause part
of the noise current to flow through the capacitance between the shield and the second conductor.

Reference: Practical Grounding, Bonding, Shielding and Surge Protection G. Vijayaraghavan, Mark Brown (Get hardcopy from
Amazon)

RecommendedEEstuff//

Sharewithengineers//

http://electricalengineeringportal.com/cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation 4/5
2/20/2016 Cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation|EEP

AboutAuthor//
Edvard Csanyi

Edvard - Electrical engineer, programmer and founder of EEP. Highly specialized for
design of LV high power busbar trunking (<6300A) in power substations, buildings and
industry fascilities. Designing of LV/MV switchgears. Professional in AutoCAD
programming and web-design. Present on Google+

2015 EEP - Electrical Engineering Portal. All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy |
Terms of Service | 37 queries in 0.147 seconds.
Powered by CsanyiGroup

SHARE

TOP
Get PDF

http://electricalengineeringportal.com/cablespacingasameansofnoisemitigation 5/5