Proc.

of the 2013 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC Europe 2013), Brugge, Belgium, September 2-6, 2013

Analysis of Shielding Effectiveness of HV Cable and

Connector Systems used for Electric Vehicles

Abid Mushtaq, Stephan Frei Kerstin Siebert, Jörg Bärenfänger

Department of Electrical Engineering and IT EMC Test NRW GmbH
TU Dortmund University Dortmund, Germany
Dortmund, Germany siebert@emc-test.de
abid.mushtaq@tu-dortmund.de

Abstract—In order to understand and design better shielding varying the shield parameters was investigated. The simulation
effectiveness (SE) of HV cables and connectors for electric results have been compared with existing and proposed EMC
vehicles (EV), appropriate measurement methods are required. test methods.
The Transfer Impedance ZT is usually measured using Triaxial
or Line Injection method. Based on a simplification of Triaxial
method, a Ground Plate measurement method has been proposed II. BASICS OF SHIELDED CABLES
to evaluate SE of cables and the cable-connector system. Results As per [2] simple shielded cable can be electromagnetically
of proposed method have been compared to Triaxial method for modeled and represented using inner and outer circuits as
cable only and Line Injection methods for the cable-connector shown in fig. 1.
system. Different approaches to analytically model the transfer
impedance ZT have been discussed. Dependency of weave angle VSi’= ZTIS Ii‘
and braid wire thickness on the shield performance has been Inner conductor
Zi’
+
simulated in order to better understand cable shield design. The
Yi Vi’
document gives an overview of mathematical modeling Inner circuit ISi’= YTVS
techniques and existing measurement methods for ZT. It proposes _
Interior of the cable shield
a simplified approach for evaluating ZT for the complete HV
cable connector system used in EV. VSS’ IS
ZS’
Exterior of the cable shield
+
Keywords— shielded cables, shielding effectiveness; elecrical ISS’ V
vehicle; HV system; transfer impedance; EM modeling Outer circuit YS’ S
Ground plane
_

I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Electromagnetic model of a shielded cable

Cable and connector system for Electric Vehicles HV-
applications should have an effective shielding. Various It can be seen that inductive coupling can be represented as
measurement setups have already been proposed to determine transfer impedance ZT, whereas the capacitive coupling can be
the shielding effectiveness of a HV cables. Most of them like represented as transfer admittance YT. Electrical (capacitive)
the Line Injection method and the Triaxial method [1] originate coupling and magnetic (inductive) coupling can be defined as
from the testing of communication cables. HV-connectors are (1, 2):
difficult to measure due to the large size. In order to find
appropriate methods for HV automotive cable-connector 1 Vi 

ZT'  (/m)  Transfer impedance (1)
systems, the known methods are systematically compared in I S x Ii =0 

this paper. Triaxial and Line Injection methods have been used
to measure transfer impedance. Based on typical automotive
measurement setups a Ground Plate method was developed and 1 I i 
YT'  (S /m)  Transfer admittance (2)
investigated. Its measurement results are compared with VS x Vi =0 
Triaxial method and Line Injection method for cable only and
Line Injection method for the cable-connector system. It could Often transfer admittance is assumed to be small. But for
be shown that the Ground Plate method can be a simple and cables with braid shields, transfer admittance might be
robust possibility to specify the shielding properties of a cable important. When frequency increases both the electric and
connector system. magnetic fields can penetrate through the apertures thus both
ZT and YT are important to be considered. The apertures in the
To support the measurement results, investigations in
braid shield can be seen as small dipoles excited through the
analytical models based on Vance, Tyni and Demoulin have
combination of electric and magnetic fields occurring inside
been performed. The effect on the transfer impedance by
the shield. Further details of such aperture polarizabilities due

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 Proc. of the 2013 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC Europe 2013), Brugge, Belgium, September 2-6, 2013

to electric and magnetic coupling are discussed in [2]. Out of For simplicity and non-reference measurements, R2F can be
two standard measurement methods described further in neglected and R1F can be taken as 50 Ω for matched load. Then
section III, Line Injection method has the ability to measure (4) gets simplified to:
combined effect due of inductive and capacitive coupling.  S21 ( dB ) 
50  20 
ZT  10   (5)
III. MEASUREMENT SETUPS FOR HV SYSTEMS km LC
The most commonly used measurement setups are the
Triaxial method and the Line Injection method [1, 13] which B. Line Injection Method
are described shortly in the following subsections. As shown in fig. 3, the outer circuit, labeled by subscript 2,
comprises of Line Injection circuit (Line Injection wire and
A. Triaxial Method outer shield of the cable under test). It is fed from source port
According to [1] Triaxial method can be used for measuring 2 of NWA. The inner circuit labeled by subscript 1, consists of
the transfer impedance of shielded cables at least up to 30 the cable under test is terminated with a matched load, where
MHz. Figure 2 shows the equivalent circuit of the triaxial test the induced voltage is measured at NWA port 1.
setup. Outer circuit labeled with subscript 2, consists of outer Parallel wires
Z0=R2N
shield surface and triaxial tube (cylinder) and measures the
R2F
coupled signal at port 2. NWA Outer circuit U2N ~
port 1:
Receiver Outer shield
Z0= R1N side
Center conductor NWA
Inner shield port 2:
+ + Z1= R1F U2,fe Inner circuit U2,ne Source
side
Inner conductor R1F
V1N Inner V1F Z0 = R1N
Circuit NWA
_ _ Port 2:
Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit of Line Injection measurement setup
Inner shield Z2= R2F Receiver
side
ZT The main difference between Line Injection and Triaxial
Outer shield
NWA
+ + setup is that, in Triaxial method the transfer admittance
Port 1: LCOUPLING
(through capacitance) is short circuited at the near end of the
Source Outer U2F U2N Z0= R2N
outer circuit. Whereas in the Line Injection both ZT and YT are
side Circuit
_ _ acting on the cable, we can measure equivalent transfer
Cylinder impedance ZTE. Using the measurement process described in
[1, 13], after matching both inner and outer circuits, we have:
Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit of Triaxial test setup
2U1n
Where: ZTE n Lc  f
 Z F  ZT
f
km I 2
R1N, R1F: Load resistance of inner circuit at the near and far end (6)
U 2,n
R2F, R2N: Load resistance of outer circuit at the far and near end I2  for ZT Lc R1
U1N: Voltage fed into the inner circuit at the near end R2, f
U2N, U2F: Voltage coupled into the outer circuit at near and far end
2U1n
R2 N R R2 F ZTE n Lc  f
R2  Z F  ZT (7)
U2N  U 2F U 2F  2N U2N f
kmU 2,n
R2 N R2 R2 N (3)
 An 
U1 N kmU1F ,Meas  Tf 
I1    20 
R1N R1N 2 R2  
ZTE n  10  
(8)
The inner circuit (including cable under test), labeled with
f
Lc km
subscript 1, is fed from source port labeled 1 of network
analyzer (NWA). From fig. 2 and using (3-5) it can be seen Usually the cable shields are not uniform, so it is
how S21 parameters are used to find ZT. recommended to perform the measurements at different angles.
Here three angles 0°, 120° and 240° were used.
U2 R R R2 F U 2 N
ZT   1F 2 N C. Ground Plate method
I1LC R2 N km LC U1F ,meas
(4) Based on the simplification of Triaxial method, a ground
 S21 ( dB )  Plate method has been proposed which is explained in this
R1F R2 N R2 F  20 
ZT  10  
section. In Triaxial method, a hollow cylinder is used which
R2 N km LC completes the outer circuit. Based on every DUT’s size and
shape, cylinder has to be customized i.e., re-designed and

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 Proc. of the 2013 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC Europe 2013), Brugge, Belgium, September 2-6, 2013

manufactured along with complex connections in order to

accommodate the DUT properly, which can make Triaxial Cable-connector system:
method costly and time consuming. So to overcome this Cable =~1000mm
problem, to consider voluminous connectors, and to comply Connector box=240mm 45 mm
more with standard automotive EMC set ups it is proposed to
replace cylinder with ground plate. This does not change the 240 mm

network circuit as shown in fig. 2.

Mathematical analysis of the network circuit has been 1240 mm
derived considering input and reflected waves at NWA ports
and using fig. 2.
Fig. 4. Cable-connector system
V2 F
ZT  
I1 LCoupling
TABLE II. SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE MEASUREMENT SETUP
 2 Z0  (9)
  Measurement setup Symbol Value
 2 R2 N R2 N R2 F  b2

V2 F For all measurements R1N & Length
50 Ω
(Port input impedance) R2N
I1 LCoupling  2 Z0  a1
  km 0.216
 Z 0 R1F  Triaxial method R1F 13 Ω
0.4 m & 1 m
where S21 (S-parameter)= b2/a1 cable only
R2F 80 Ω
V2 F 1  R1N R1F   R2 N R2 F  R1F 13 Ω 1 m cable only
ZT      S21 (10) & 1.24 m cable-
I1LCoupling Lcoupling  2   R2 N  Line Injection method
connector
km 0.216
system
Generic formulation for ZT is given in (10). Additional R1F 50 Ω
simplification of Ground plate method has been suggested by Matched
varying termination loads. setting R2F 0 0.4 m cable only
Ground
& 1.24 m cable-
Plate
  R2 N R2 F  R1F 0 connector
1  R1N R1F method Short-
ZT      S21  circuit system
Lcoupling  2  R2 N  (11)
 setting R2F 0
1  R1N R1F 
ZT    S21 IV. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Lcoupling  2 
If R2F = 0, ZT is calculated using (11) and if both R2F and A. Measurement results
R1F=0, then (12) can be used. With Triaxial method for 1 m cable without a connector,
two measurements were made, one without R2F (simple / open)
1  R1N R1F   R2 N R2 F  and other measurement result with R2F. Using Line Injection
ZT     S21 
Lcoupling  2  R2 N  (12) method for 1 m cable only, measurements at three different
   angles (0°, 120° and 240°) were performed.
1  R1N 
ZT    S21
Lcoupling  2 
2
Triaxial method & Line injection method
10
TABLE I. PARAMETERS OF THE INVESTIGATED HV CABLE

Geometrical parameter Symbol Value

1
Cross section of the inner conductor A 35 mm² 10
Zt [mOhm]

Diameter of the braid D 11.4 mm

0
Diameter of single braid wire d 0.2 mm
Number of wires in carrier n 8 0 Triaxial Simple
10
Number of carriers N 24 Triaxial with R2
Weave angle Ψ 30 degrees 0 degree LIM
120 degree LIM
Conductivity σ 5.8x107 S/m
-1
240 degree LIM
Coupling lengths used Lc 0.4 m & 1.0 m 10 5 6 7 8
10 10 10 10
Frequency [Hz]
Figure 4 shows DUT used for cable-connector system
measurement. Specifications of the measurement setup can be Fig. 5. Triaxial method and Line Injection comparison
found in table 2.

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 Proc. of the 2013 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC Europe 2013), Brugge, Belgium, September 2-6, 2013

In fig. 5 it is shown that the transfer impedance measured Comparison of Ground Plate method with Line Injection method: Cable-connector system
4
10
from the Triaxial method can be used up to 60 MHz maximum ZT LIM NE
with impedance matching at R2 and up to 20 MHz with Triaxial ZT LIM FE
ZT GPM Matched
(simple), whereas transfer impedance measured from Line 3 ZT GPM ShortCircuit
Injection results gives correct result up to 200 MHz after which 10
first resonance take place.

Zt [mOhm]
From the difference in results for Triaxial measurements 2
10
(simple and with R2) it can be seen that mismatches cause
decrease in frequency range of accurate results. For Line
Injection method it can be seen, measurements with different 1
10
angles have very slight variation, especially in this case, when
the DUT has symmetrical structure. It can be deduced that, at
lower frequencies, both Triaxial method and Line Injection 0
method results are equally appropriate, whereas at higher 10 5 6 7 8
10 10 10 10
frequencies, Line Injection method is better as at higher Frequency [Hz]

frequencies electric fields (capacitive coupling) can also

penetrate through the apertures of the braid. To verify Ground Fig. 8. Comparison of Ground Plate method with Line Injection method on
plate method, its measured results for 400 mm cable were cable-connector system (1240 mm)
compared with reference Triaxial method and an 1240 mm
cable-connector system was compared to Line Injection In fig. 8, it can be observed that, both settings of Ground
method. plate method have higher measured value for ZT than the Line
Injection method. Also the DC resistance seems to be higher,
3
Comparison of Ground Plate method with Triaxial method: Cable only indicating a mechanical connection problem. It is assumed
10
ZT Triaxial method there is a solution, but more analysis is required in order to
ZT GPM ShortCircuit
ZT GPM Matched
improve Ground Plate method.

2
10 V. TRANSFER IMPEDANCE CALCULATION
As the HV cables used are braided shield cables, only
Zt [mOhm]

models for the braided shield are considered. In this section,

1
models for simulating the braided shield cables, based on
10
Vance, Tyni and Demoulin are presented and discussed [4-6].
The effects of particular geometrical parameters which affect
the measurements of shield performance are shown. Before
0
analyzing the models, it is necessary to understand the basics of
10
10
5
10
6
10
7
10
8
braided shields used for electromagnetic shielding purpose. As
Frequency [Hz]
analyzed in [3], a metallic braid can be described completely
by 6 parameters of a cable shield, these are Braid shield
Fig. 6. Comparison of Ground plate method with Triaxial method
diameter (D0), braid wire diameter (d), number of carriers in
Figure 6 shows comparison of Ground plate method with shield (C), number of wires in single carrier (n), conductivity
Triaxial method for a cable with 0.4 m length only. It can be of the braid material (  ), and weave angle (  ).
observed that Ground plate method with short circuit setting
can produce similar results as Triaxial method. A. Vance Model
As shown by Vance [7], transfer impedance of a braided
shield can be calculated as:
Zt  Z d j Lh (13)

Where Zd covers the diffusion of magnetic fields through

the sheath and hole inductance Lh covers the penetration of
magnetic fields through the apertures in the metal braids.
(1 j )d / 
Z d  R0
sinh[(1 j )d /  ] (14)
Fig. 7. Line Injection measurement setup on cable-connector system
Where d is braid-wire diameter and R0 is the per-unit-length
To investigate Ground Plate method on cable-connector braid resistance, skin depth (  ) as described by (15):
assemblies, first Line Injection method is implemented on
cable-connector system as shown in fig. 7, this is assumed as a  2
reference measurement result.  0
(15)

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 Proc. of the 2013 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC Europe 2013), Brugge, Belgium, September 2-6, 2013

4 off frequency, diffusion and inductive effects play dominant

R0  role causing variation in ZT. Figure 9 shows also comparison
! d nC cos 
2
(16)
of reference Triaxial method with simulation models.
In [8, 14] a simplified relationship for Lh has been used:
Comparison of Triaxial with simulation models: Cable only
 2 !d  5
2C  b   2 10
Tyni Model
Lh  0   exp
 b  Vance
Vance Model
! cos   ! DM  Tyni
Demoulin Model
(17) 4
10
Demoulin Model
Triaxial method@TUDO
Triaxial method
Where b is the hole width.
3
10

Zt [mOhm]
B. Tyni Model
In addition to Vance model, [9, 10] Tyni proposed (18), in 2 Cut-off frequency
10
which an additional term is added for considering the effects of
braid inductance.
1 Till Cut-off frequency, Tyni
10
Zt  Z d j ( Lh Lb ) (18) and Vance models give
constant RDC, whereas
Demoulin, has early rise due
to added ‘KK’ factor
0
Where Lb is the transfer inductance which arises due to the 10 55 66 77 88
10 10 10 10
woven nature of the braid. It is the magnetic leakage occurring Frequency [Hz]

at the junction of the braids composing the carrier wires.

Fig. 9. Comparison of Triaxial method with simulation results
h
Lb  0
1 tan 2  (19)
4! DM It can be observed that the simulated result for Demoulin
model is very similar to the measured results. Figure 10 shows
Where DM is the mean braid diameter i.e., DM = D0+2d and slight difference between Demoulin model, Triaxial and
h is the radial spindle separation. Ground Plate method with short circuit setting.
C. Demoulin Model
In [11, 12], Demoulin has proposed (20), a generic model 3
Comparison of Triaxial with simulation models: Cable only
10
for the braided shield cable transfer impedance, which consist Demoulin Model
of four terms where the additional term is further defining Triaxial method
GPM ShortCircuit
porpoising effect with depending of ZT on  :
! 10
2
j
Zt  Z d j Lh k  e 4
 j Lb (20)
Zt [mOhm]

Where sign of Lb is positive for  > 45º and is negative for 10

1

 < 45º. A real co-efficient k which depends on braid

parameters and symmetry was introduced. If  = 45º, the
inductance due to the woven nature of the braid is zero i.e.,
k " 0 . For  < 45º the following simplified model can be
0
10 5 6 7 8
10 10 10 10
Frequency [Hz]
used:
!
j Fig. 10. Comparison of Triaxial and Ground plate with Demoulin)
Zt  Z d k e 4
j Lb (21)

1.16 n !  E. Variation of Geometrical Parameters

where k .arctan .sin  2  . (22)
nCd 3 2   In [3] dependency of ZT on spindle distance variation (h)
has been discussed along with other parameters. In this paper
D. Comparison of Simulation Models the two factors weave angle  and braid wire diameter d,
which indirectly affect the cost of the cable, are analyzed.
All three simulation models have been implemented using the Braid wire thickness was varied from 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm and
parameters given in table 1. Comparison of simulation models weave angle from 20° to 35° in the simulation model. As
is shown in fig. 9. It can be seen that for the investigated shown in fig. 11 and also evident from (8-14)  plays an
particular braided shield cable, both Tyni and Vance models important role and can be adjusted to give lowest dip in the ZT
are almost similar whereas Demoulin model has difference curve for optimized braid. For optimized braids, inductive
due to the additional k and  terms added to represent the effects are adjusted in order to cancel out each other to give a
opposing eddy currents flowing in the braided shield wire lowest value to ZT. In this DUT case, 29 degree is the
which varies the curve with increasing frequency. After cut-

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 Proc. of the 2013 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC Europe 2013), Brugge, Belgium, September 2-6, 2013

optimized value of the weave angle, while keeping all other Plane method has been compared with Triaxial method with
parameters same. similar results with short circuit setting for the cable. For cable
connector system comparison was done between Groud Plane
Effect of variation in weave angle
3
10 method and Line Injection method. Here a difference of 2 m
Demoulin
till cut-off frequency, and early rise in ZT with frequency could
Weave angle from 20 till be observed. It is assumed that there is a connection problem in
29 degrees decrease ZT setup. More analysis is required in order to reduce the
2
10 Weave angle from 29 till differences.
30 degrees again
Zt [mOhm]

increases ZT Furthermore simulation models for HV braided shielded

cables have been reviewed and verified with measurements.
Lowest value
1 for this DUT Dependency of transfer impedance on the weave angle and
10 achieved with braid-wire diameter has been analyzed.
Optimum
weave angle
at 29 degree ACKNOWLEDGMENT
0
10 3 4 5 6 7 8
The work in this paper was partly funded by the European
10 10 10 10 10 10
Frequency [Hz] Union (EFRE), the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and
Industry of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Ministry for
Fig. 11. Effects of variation in weave angle 20º to 35º Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Conservation
and Consumer Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the
Variation of diameter of single braid wire has greater effect TIE-IN project with reference number 64.65.69-EM-1022A.
on the resistive part and diffusion part (skin effect) of the
transfer impedance as shown in fig.12. For good shielding and REFERENCES
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