Radiated Emission from a Lift Control Panel Based on an IGBT Inverter

Modern elevator systems more often than not would consist of high-speed microprocessor and fast switching power devices in its inverter circuitry, where high efficiency and comfortable riding can be achieved. Nevertheless, it could be a possibility that due to these fast-switching devices, for instance, the Insulated Gated Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) to result in Radio Frequency (RF) radiated and conducted emission. With the introduction of Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC) regulations, the EN81 (Safety Rules For The Construction And Installation Of Lifts - Part 1: Electric Lifts) has encompassed EMC standards such as EN12015 (Electromagnetic Compatibility - Product Family Standard For Lifts, Escalators and Passenger Conveyors - Emission) and EN12016 (Electromagnetic Compatibility - Product Family Standard for Lifts, Escalators and Passenger Conveyors - Immunity) to ensure elevator system compliance to the EMC requirement. Most of the elevator vendors, if not all, have to overcome this unavoidable yet invisible problem. Here, this paper shall present the EMC evaluation facilities and the result of radiated emission from an elevator system, utilizing to an IGBT drive inverter.