Grover
Member
Greetings.
We have a floor full of packaging machines that were installed in a building that did not have a grounding scheme designed into it, such as a grid in the concrete. The machines typically receive their safety ground connections through the 12AWG wire found within the 480VAC input power cable. A grounding block is then used to distribute the ground potential to various electrical components and attached equipment enclosures as well as some nearby, ancillary enclosures.
The power feed is a ceiling panel which is bonded to the steel facility columns. At this point I am not questioning the effectiveness of the ground path from a safety perspective- I feel it is proper and adequate based on my analysis of the 2003 NEC.
I am, however, questioning the effectiveness of this grounding scheme at reducing the the electical noise that infests these machines. I realize that every ground lead, including the ground source wire from the power drop, can act as an antennae by reacting to the magnetic fields induced by motors and solenoids.
I know this is an absolute can of worms subject, but I'd like to hear what others hve done to minimize the spikes that I am seeing on the signals. More power supply filtering? More shielding? Bigger gound leads? Re-routing the leads?
Grover
We have a floor full of packaging machines that were installed in a building that did not have a grounding scheme designed into it, such as a grid in the concrete. The machines typically receive their safety ground connections through the 12AWG wire found within the 480VAC input power cable. A grounding block is then used to distribute the ground potential to various electrical components and attached equipment enclosures as well as some nearby, ancillary enclosures.
The power feed is a ceiling panel which is bonded to the steel facility columns. At this point I am not questioning the effectiveness of the ground path from a safety perspective- I feel it is proper and adequate based on my analysis of the 2003 NEC.
I am, however, questioning the effectiveness of this grounding scheme at reducing the the electical noise that infests these machines. I realize that every ground lead, including the ground source wire from the power drop, can act as an antennae by reacting to the magnetic fields induced by motors and solenoids.
I know this is an absolute can of worms subject, but I'd like to hear what others hve done to minimize the spikes that I am seeing on the signals. More power supply filtering? More shielding? Bigger gound leads? Re-routing the leads?
Grover