On Wednesday, 31st October 2018, the Midlands Power Group were delighted to welcome Dr Rob Armstrong, Expert Services Manager at Eurofins York to Austin Court to deliver a presentation on Electromagnetic Compatibility with a strong focus on the management of EMC in the railway sector.Rob gave the 60 or so attendees an informative insight into the challenges arising from EMC and views on the legislation and regulations are in place to prevent adverse consequences of uncontrolled electromagnetic emissions,

The talk started by explaining the electromagnetic spectrum and the range of frequencies applicable to EMC and then proceeded to explain what EMC is and how it was legally regulated.  This provided a good platform to outline how equipment should be designed to be EMC compliant - essentially a bit of apparatus should not cause interference, nor should it be prevented from working by interference from external sources (e.g. nearby equipment and processes).


These requirements are specified in EU Legislation [EU 2014/30]  which is transposed into a UK legal requirement by SI-1091.   Rob put a definition extracted from SI 1091 on the screen - to demonstrate that, in complex technical topic areas, civil servants can occasionally include nonsensical requirements in the drafting of legislation.


Rob went on to outline the uncertain impact of Brexit on EU legislation and the practicalities of establishing EMC compliance in the future - for example EU countries might not recognise EMC compliance certificates of conformance if there is a 'no-deal' Brexit.  However  Rob did point out that Brexit or no, the laws of physics don't change and so EMC and related compliance will continue to be important.


The talk was illustrated with a number of examples - mainly drawn from the rail sector - to illustrate real life EMC problems.   These included arcing from a rail catenary system in Sweden that effectively blocks mobile phone use on the train.


Rob also pointed out that trying to take a photo of equipment causing electromagnetic noise may not always be possible as the electromagnetic noise itself may interfere with digital cameras, smart phones and the like.


Rob's lecture last just over an hour and was followed by a lively discussion with the audience.


On behalf of the Midlands Power Group, I would like to thank Rob for delivering an engaging and interesting talk.  Thanks also go to Martin Woodcock, a member of the MPG Committee, for making all the arrangements for the talk.


Rob has kindly provided a copy of his slides from the talk and these are available at https://communities.theiet.org/communities/files/154/16688