Jim,
I agree with Warren that electrostatic discharge (ESD) testing is the
most important single immunity test that you can run during
development. In my previous job as a product developer at IBM and
Lexmark (mid-1990 to early 2002), I developed/helped develop some 15
generations of network adapters and digital office products. Over that
time I worked on:
* One product that was initially susceptible to AC voltage dips (long
before EN 61000-4-11 came out).
* One or two products containing modems, that initially failed the EN
61000-4-6 conducted immunity test.
BUT
* Nearly every product initially failed the EN 61000-4-2 and/or IBM's
Tabletop ESD test.
If you can design/harden your product to the point that it ignores 15kV
air discharges and 8kV contact discharges, both direct and indirect,
it will probably have low emissions and shrug off almost any kind of
noise you can throw at it.
I wrote an article, "Designing Electronic Equipment for ESD Immunity",
for Printed Circuit Design magazine (http://www.pcdmag.com/) in late
2000/early 2001. Recommendations A1 through L5 (260 in all) tell you
how to design and build your product for the best practical ESD
immunity. Recommendations M1 through M31 (in Part 2) tell you how to
learn/get the most value from your ESD testing, and to make sure that
you have done everything correctly. You may download it from our web
site at:
* http://www.dbicorporation.com/esd-art1.htm - Part 1.
* http://www.dbicorporation.com/esd-art2.htm - Part 2.
John Barnes KS4GL
dBi Corporation
http://www.dbicorpporation.com/
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