Identification of efficient methods, techniques and designs for reduction of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from DC/DC converters and associated filters

 

Reduction of EMI emission is usually considered a secondary optimization criterion in the design of DC-to-DC power converters for space applications and their filters, where power efficiency, mass and volume are driving design criteria. Several basic methods and techniques exist to reduce EMI, e.g. Filtering and shielding. Typical designs use these basic reduction techniques to a limited extent to meet generic requirement limits. The achievable improvement in EMI reduction needs to be however traded-off against increases in mass, size and power loss.

 

There are however more fundamental and more advanced methods methods and techniques related to design symmetry, impedance matching and balancing, distributed or multi-point grounding, or even utilization of chaotic behavior that have been already employed in other domains successfully, which have the potential to reduce emissions before they are generated or to increase filter efficiencies. This will not only result in better reduction of EMI for missions with demanding requirements, but also provide mass and volume reductions for generic emission requirements.

 

This activity encompasses the following tasks:

- Identify and study available methods and designs from other domains like digital and RF electronics, also from non-space applications.

- Preliminary design of a converter including filter using identified advanced methods for EMI reduction.

- Breadboard implementation of the preliminary design.

- Initial design validation and verification by test, e.g. Secondary power quality and primary conducted emission tests.

 

The residual power quality and conducted emissions are influenced by the actual physical implementation, which requires implementation on a breadboard targeted to achieve solid design validation and verification.

 

The validated breadboard will be a deliverable to ESA as reference implementation and can serve as input and starting point for follow-on activities to develop engineering and qualification models.