Reduce EMI by sweeping a power supply's frequency.(design ideas)(electromagnetic-interference)

EDN Asia, September, 2004 by Betten, John

Switching power supplies can be notorious noise generators. You should prevent this noise, which is conducted, radiated, or both, from returning to the input source, where it can potentially wreak havoc on other devices operating from the same input power. The goal of an EMI (electromagnetic-interference) filter is to block this noise and provide a low-impedance path back to the noise source. The larger the noise, the greater the size, expense, and difficulty of the filter design. Power supplies that operate at a fixed frequency have their largest EMI emission at this fundamental, fixed frequency. Emissions also occur at multiples of the switching frequency but at diminished amplitudes. The simple circuit in Figure 1 makes the switching converter operate over multiple...

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