YES have a team of experienced EMC consultants who are familiar with the EMC issues on both AC and DC railways. For railway projects we can provide:
An EMC Management Plan is particularly important on a large railway project. This
is because a railway is a fixed installation and as such has specific
documentary requirements under the UK's EMC regulations. Individual sub-systems
on the railway are required to carry the CE marking and hence will have to
satisfy the EMC Directive's conformance procedure for apparatus.
Despite
this a surprisingly large number of EMC issues remain unaddressed on the whole
railway.
It is the purpose of the EMC Management Plan to make sure that the various design teams within the project properly understand these EMC issues. Failure to have an effective EMC Management Plan usually results in significant delays to the project at the commissioning stage. Worse still, resolution of the problems at the commissioning stage can often result in operational limits being imposed that were not originally envisaged. Typical railway EMC issues include:
The EMC Management Plan usually identifies areas of concern on a particular project. The purpose of the EMC Interface Report is to further investigate these issues and suggest possible solutions to the problems.
The EMC Management Plan or the EMC Interface Report often requires measurements of field strength or induced voltage. The test plan describes what is to be measured and how the results will be recorded. It is often appropriate in the railway environment to make many measurements over a period of time so that the effect of the passage of a train can be established. YES has amassed a great deal of expertise in this area.
To enable the testing to a Test Plan to be carried out a Method Statement is normally necessary. This describes the equipment to be used to perform the test, how it will be deployed and how it will be transported to and from site. Furthermore the Method Statement normally details who will perform the tests, where, when and give the relevant trackside certification of the people involved (PTS, Green Card etc). The information is presented so that site supervisors, station masters etc can understand what the personnel will be doing on the site and what their requirements are, vehicular access, electrical supply, space and time required etc.
Before new assets can be deployed on or adjacent to a railway a ‘Safety Acceptance Panel’ must agree that there is no EMI hazard to the existing assets. The ‘Safety Acceptance Panel’ will normally expect a written submission demonstrating that possible interference mechanisms have been considered and found not to be credible.
All manufacturers are required to produce EMC Technical Documentation for their products, even if declaring conformance by assessing (testing) their products to harmonised standards. This Technical Documentation is equivalent to the Technical Construction File under the old EMC directive (89/336/EEC).
Manufacturers can choose to have their Technical Documentation assessed by a Notified Body under the EMC Directive. The Notified Body will provide an opinion on whether the Technical Documentation demonstrates the conformity of the product with the essential requirements of the EMC Directive.
EU Directive 2004/40/EC [1] and EU Recommendation 1999/519/EC [2] set limits on the maximum levels of electromagnetic radiation to which workers and the general public respectively can be exposed. These limits are based on the ICNIRP Guidelines.
The recommendation (covering the general public) is being implemented under the ægis of the R&TTE and Low Voltage Directives. Standards, concerned with the health effects of EMFs and harmonised under these Directives are currently being introduced.
The Directive (covering workers) will be transposed into national law by April 2008; it will
require employers to assess and, if necessary, measure and/or calculate the levels of
electromagnetic fields to which workers are exposed
[1].
YES provides an assessment, measuring and calculation service.
[1] - Directive 2004/40/EC on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (electromagnetic fields) [back]
[2] - Recommendation 1999/519/EC on the limitation of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (0 Hz to 300 GHz) [back]
Last Updated: 2007-Oct-03
