We recently had a question from a customer as to whether our products are immune to the EMI generated by MIG and TIG welders. Our base business is electrical protective relays, so we test everything (including products that are not protective relays) to the protective relay standards (e.g., IEEE C37.90.2 radiated immunity, 20 V/m with 80% AM, giving a peak field of 36 V/m). So I consider our products to be fairly robust already.
Question: Are there test standards for products that might be used near TIG or MIG welders? Failing that, are there test standards for TIG and MIG welders? Failing both, is there any literature describing the electromagnetic environment around these welders? I did a bit of reading, and found out that some TIG welders use a high frequency, high power burst (almost like a Tesla coil) to start the arc. Sounds pretty nasty to me. Donald Borowski Schweitzer Engineering Labs Pullman, Washington, USA - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
