European Union as a single entity and the stars from the Flag of Europe. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
EMC directive
New directive acceptance is taking longer than expected. Legal adoption is expected around October. With allowances for editorial and administrative action, the new EMC directive can be expected to be operational by year’s end. The “Blue Guide” is undergoing an update due to the changes and to take the New Legislative Framework (NLF) into account.
Power Line Communications
EU EMC consultant indicated that prEN 50412-4 is not recommended for listing in the Official Journal of the European Union at this time, and Notified Bodies are cautioned against using this draft standard for their assessment. For history on this subject and background see An update on PLT, Power Line Telecommunications, in Europe and The last word on Power Line telecom (PLT) in the EU, EN 55022:2006 applies in full, maybe….
EMC Market surveillance campaign
On first analyses the EMC ADCO’s 2012 5th market surveillance shows worse results than previous campaigns. Reports indicated; of the items sampled 1 out of 2 Information Technology Equipment switching power supplies fail the EMC technical requirements. The full report should be released soon, typically reports are produced in January of the following year and then posted to the Europa web site. The report on the bilateral Table PC campaign conducted by the Netherlands and Germany is also expected soon.
Next candidates on the list for EMC market surveillance are;
Power Assist Bicycles, Inverter or optimizer for solar panels, High Definition (HD) video recorder, and potentially a new LED lighting campaign to assess improvements over the 4th market surveillance campaign.
(EMC ADCO) – is the European Administrative Co-operation Working Group http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/electrical/documents/emc/guidance/
What power should be considered “Rated Power”
When assessing product under 61000-3-2, “Harmonic Current Emissions”, what power is considered as the rated power, the one actually measured at the lab or the one mentioned on the product data plate? When EMC ADCO was asked this question, the following statement was provided;
Up to a power consumption of 75 W no limits for harmonic current emissions apply to most devices (lighting equipment excepted).
If the rated power is nearly (but below) 75 W procedure is stated in the standard EN 61000-3-2:2006 + A1:2009 + A2:2009 Clause 6.2.2:
“The value of the power found by measurement during emission tests other than the original manufacturer’s conformity assessment test, measured according to the terms of this clause, shall not be less than 90 % nor greater than 110 % of the value for power specified by the manufacturer in the test report (see 6.2.3.4). In the event that the measured value is outside of this tolerance band around the specified value, the measured power shall be used to establish the limits.”
ADCO CONCLUSION
Rated power below 75 W, measured value of rated power is within 90 to 110% of the displayed rated power of the manufacturer
Take rated power from data plate
Rated power below 75 W, rated power not stated at data plate or measured value of rated power is outside 90 to 110%
Take measured rated power from test laboratory
EMC Standards
CISPR 32 has now been published. EN55032 could become mandatory mid 2017
EN55022 and EN 55024 2010 mandatory December 2013
