Investigation of EFT test setup for rack mounted equipment by numerical simulations

The immunity of electrical and electronic equipment to repetitive electric fast transients/bursts (EFT) is regulated by the IEC 61000-4-4 standard, 2nd edition. The test procedure recommended for rack mounted equipment is actually not very comfortable to implement. To improve this aspect of the standard, the working group charged to developing the new edition has addressed some attention to defining an improved test configuration. In this paper some configurations of rack mounted equipment subjected to EFT test are investigated by numerical simulations based on the use of a full-wave electromagnetic software tool, and of SPICE circuit simulator. The results of this activity have helped to define a new test setup that will appear in the 3rd edition of the standard that is currently being voted.