Electrical noise – Ransburg PulseTrack2 A11515-XXXXX User Manual

Page 14

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ELECTRICAL NOISE

Electrical noise refers to stray electrical signals

in the atmosphere at various signal strengths

and frequencies that can affect the operation

of equipment. One of the best ways to prevent

this is to shield the equipment and cables within

a

continuous ground envelope, such that any

incident noise will be conducted to earth ground

before it can affect the circuit conductors.

For conductors inside the control panel the ground-

ed enclosure provides this envelope.

For factory supplied control cables shielded cable

has been used. The shield typically consists of an

overall foil shield in combination with an overall

braided shield. This provides the most effective

shielding, as the foil covers the "holes" in the braid,

and the braid allows for practical 360° termination

at both ends of the cable.

The AC input cord is not shielded, but instead is

directed to an AC line filter as soon as it enters the

cabinet. This filter filters out any noise that comes

in on the AC line. For maximum noise immunity

the AC line should connect to the filter as soon

as it enters the cabinet with as short of leads as

pos-sible. Additional noise protection is provided

by running the AC input line to the control panel

in grounded conduit, which is the recommended

method and is required by most codes.

For maximum noise protection any user supplied

input/output (I/O) wiring should be made using

shielded cable or conduit which is connected to

earth ground in a continuous 360° fashion at both

ends. The best way to do this is to use a connector/

fitting at each end of the cable/conduit that makes

contact to the grounded enclosure in this manner.

Connecting the drain wire of a shield to a ground

point on or in the cabinet (usually referred to as

pigtailing) is not an effective method of shielding

and actually making things worse (see Figure 2).

Cable is recommended for the DC I/O. Again, for

maximum noise immunity the cabling must contain

overall foil and braided shields and be terminated

in a continuous 360° manner as previously de-

scribed. Special fittings have been provided on

the control panel for termination of these cables

where they enter the cabinet. The use of these

fittings is described under "Electrical I/O" in the

"Installation" section of this manual.

Figure 2: Cable Connection Examples

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