Hello!

I am a building a motion control lab experiment where I have a (relatively small) AC servo motor in proximity (mostly well above 10 cm) of delicate electronics (Arduino, ADC, strain gauge sensor, potentiometer, micro switch etc.).

Since I have practically zero expirience with such applications (I am a mechanical engineering student of mechatronics), I would really appreciate any input & help in regard to whether electromagnetic interference would be a big issue here and to what measures should I go with shielding everything.

Some more information:

• AC servo motor: Infranor Xtrafors Prime FP-0105: (stall current: 2.51A, peak current 15A, http://www.infranor.com/dynasite.cfm?dsmid=83414&pid=51&ppid=51)
• Servo motor driver: Infranor Xtrapuls Pac (http://www.infranor.com/dynasite.cfm?dsmid=83414&pid=137&ppid=137)
• the company Infranor provided all shielding for high power cables so that's sorted
• I have lots of sensor, ethernet, usb cables & connectors
  
• Electronics housing (arduino, ADC...) is currently made of laser cut plywood.

My question is: Do you think it would it be necessary for me to also shield the electronics housing for arduino and all cables and connectors of low voltage/current components? It is quite a time & budget consuming job just for a lab experiment and I am not sure whether the motor's 2.5A current would affect my delicate electronics?


Thank you for your help!

Regards,
Primoz

 

Hello!

I am a building a motion control lab experiment where I have a (relatively small) AC servo motor in proximity (mostly well above 10 cm) of delicate electronics (Arduino, ADC, strain gauge sensor, potentiometer, micro switch etc.).

Since I have practically zero expirience with such applications (I am a mechanical engineering student of mechatronics), I would really appreciate any input & help in regard to whether electromagnetic interference would be a big issue here and to what measures should I go with shielding everything.

Some more information:

• AC servo motor: Infranor Xtrafors Prime FP-0105: (stall current: 2.51A, peak current 15A, http://www.infranor.com/dynasite.cfm?dsmid=83414&pid=51&ppid=51)
• Servo motor driver: Infranor Xtrapuls Pac (http://www.infranor.com/dynasite.cfm?dsmid=83414&pid=137&ppid=137)
• the company Infranor provided all shielding for high power cables so that's sorted
• I have lots of sensor, ethernet, usb cables & connectors
  
• Electronics housing (arduino, ADC...) is currently made of laser cut plywood.

My question is: Do you think it would it be necessary for me to also shield the electronics housing for arduino and all cables and connectors of low voltage/current components? It is quite a time & budget consuming job just for a lab experiment and I am not sure whether the motor's 2.5A current would affect my delicate electronics?


Thank you for your help!

Regards,
Primoz

2.5A motors don't influence serial communications too much at 10cm. I have a DIY 3D printer with stepper motors running 4A and cables are a tangled mess right now (motor power cables and sensors/limit switches/LCD display/SD card reader) - motor controller is attached directly to arduino (as arduino shield) and we have no problems.

Our biggest problem was length of SD card reader ribbon cable. Otherwise, I would carry on until you have a problem.

 

... an ordinary analog compass should indicate any magnetic fields that are present.

 

You are going to have more issues with grounds and unwanted voltage drops.

While shielding is an important technique, it's always going to be secondary to good grounding design and careful consideration of where voltage drops appear in your wiring.

So many times i have seen draconian shielding measures taken to fix a problem that could be fixed simpler ways.

We need to have a problem before we can fix it, build it and tell us what's wrong.