Preliminary Tests on a Low Cost Two-Port TEM Cell

Abstract —A modified version of a low cost two-port TEM cell, with a 230 MHz highest operating frequency, has been realized. Two main aspects characterize this new version: the septum is now laterally sustained, and an easier soldering of the septum itself to the output terminals is obtained, by modifications of the septum ends and of the TEM cell terminations. A preliminary series of tests have been performed and the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) has been measured at different frequencies. Presently, a set-up with a VSWR lower than 1.35 in the whole operating frequency range has been realized. I. I NTRODUCTION TEM cell is a well known system for emission and immunity measurements [1]-[3]. A preliminary version of a low cost two-port TEM cell has been developed at the Industrial Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering of the University of Padova [4]. The TEM cell has been designed for tests on equipments of maximum dimensions 270 mm x 220 mm x 60 mm, with a highest test frequency of 230 MHz. A modification of the TEM cell terminations, including the realization of a new septum, has been performed and is described in Section II. In Section III, some aspects relative to the TEM cell assembly are discussed. In Section IV, the experimental set-up used for the measurement of the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) is depicted. In Section V the results obtained are reported. Afterwards, further modifications of the TEM cell have been realized and are described in Section VI, together with the corresponding VSWR data. The final remarks are given in the Section VII. II. TEM C