Vent Hole Size Analysis for High-Frequency

Systems Chassis Design

Eric Chikando, Edward Bodette, Samuel Connor, Bruce Archambeault
IBM Corporation
Systems and Technology Group, RTP, NC-USA
Abstract
__
This paper presents the electromagnetic
interference shielding impact due to air vent holes on
electronic systems chassis. In the study, finite-difference time
domain (FDTD) simulations are used to investigate effects of
aperture hole size on shielding performance. A numerical
analysis is then proposed which enables mathematical
quantification of expected shielding as a function of holes
number, size, depth and hole-to-hole separation distance.
Index Terms
__
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), FDTD
analysis, radiated emissions, shielding effectiveness.
I INTRODUCTION
The ever increasing proliferation of higher data rate digital
electronics is fostering the need for chassis enclosures with
improved electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding at
these corresponding higher frequencies. The subject of
chassis shielding has been at the center of many debates
within the technical community over the past years. While
thermal engineers prefer larger air vent holes for improved
airflow and enhanced cooling of internal electronics, EMC
engineers desire the smallest possible openings to minimize
energy leakage from the metal enclosure. Although works by
several authors have studied the impact of vent hole apertures
on EMI performance of metal screens [1] [3], most of these
investigations have been limited to frequencies ranging from
near DC to just a few gigahertz. Regulatory requirements by
the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) currently
requires all information technology equipment (ITE) marketed
in the US to be subjected to radiated emission testing at
frequencies up to five times their highest clock frequency or
up to 40 GHz [4]. Consequently, more analysis is needed at
higher frequencies to account for the continuously increasing
operating data rates of todays electronics.
This paper presents a practical analysis of shielding
effectiveness of vent holes on a system chassis while
investigating the impact of aperture size, hole-to-hole
proximity distance and hole depth on shielding performance.
The analysis is performed using a finite-difference time
domain (FDTD) simulator and in section-III, a mathematical
relation is developed as a guide to design engineers. The
expression is shown to be practical in predicting shielding
performance as function of air vent holes parameters without
the need to simulate all various options. The analytical
method is shown to compare well with the FDTD results.
II FDTD MODEL DESCRIPTION
Fig. 1 Representation of Vent holes model showing radiating element and
monitor points.
FDTD has been widely used for solving complex
electromagnetic problems. One particular advantage of the
technique is that it directly solves Maxwells equations with
relatively high accuracy even for inhomogeneous
configurations. While the solutions to the FDTD problems are
computed in the time domain, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is
used to convert results to the frequency domain.
The basic model developed for this investigation is shown in
Fig. 1. It consists of a metal screen of variable thickness
spanning along the entire height and width of the simulation
environment, essentially splitting it into two sections. On the
left side, a thin wire antenna is used as a source to illuminate
the metal screen. Multiple observation points are placed to
the right of the metal screen at a minimum distance equal to
Wire
Monitor
Metal
Air vent
Simulation
boundaries (PML)
978-1-4244-6307-7/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE 813

one wavelength of the lowest simulation frequency of interest
(3GHz). In all simulation cases, the size of the metal panel is
kept constant at 200mm x 200mm. The simulation boundaries
are defined as Perfectly Matched Layers (PML) which,
although computationally resource intensive, allow the
incident signal to quickly reach steady-state, thus resulting in
faster run times. Since the metal panel runs into the boundary,
the boundary condition extends it to infinity and prevents any
size-dependent resonances from affecting the final response.
Several configurations of vent holes were added to the metal
screen as shown in Fig. 2. For simplicity purposes, all air
vents are defined to have square shape geometry. Table-1 lists
all configurations investigated in this study.
We can define shielding effectiveness as the ratio of incident
and transmitted electric fields. In the simulations, the
transmitted fields correspond to the observed field levels when
a metal screen is added between a radiating source and a set of
monitoring points. Incident fields are determined by
examining the field levels at the same points when no metal
screen is present.
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
d transmitte
incident
E
E
E S log * 20 . . (1)
The simulation results for all cases are depicted in Fig. 3-5.
In each figure, it is observed that larger screen depths yield
higher shielding performance. It is also shown that regardless
of screen depth, all curves eventually reach a common
frequency where no additional shielding can be achieved.
This is known as the cut-off frequency and is directly
proportional to the size of the hole. At their cut-off, vent holes
are no longer electrically small and in fact, their size
corresponds to half a wavelength at this frequency as shown in
(2). In the expression, C represents the speed of light in free
space.
Fig. 2 Representation of square vent holes in a NxM array arrangement
Table-1: List of vent holes arrangement and configurations
N x M 15x15 25x25 29x29
Hole size (d) 9mm 5mm 4mm
Separation
(sp)
1mm 1mm 1mm
Depth (t) (1,3,7) mm (1,3,7,9) mm (1,3,7,9) mm
Shielding performance for 9x9 mm holes
Array of 15x15 holes
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1 10 100
Freq [GHz]
S
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
t = 1mm
t = 3mm
t = 7mm
Fig. 3 Simulated shielding performance for case of 9mm holes aperture size
Shielding performance for 5x5 mm holes
Array of 25x25 holes
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 10 100
Freq [GHz]
S
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
t = 1mm
t = 3mm
t = 7mm
t = 9mm
Fig. 4 Simulated shielding performance for case of 5mm holes aperture size
N
M 1
1
d sp
sp
t
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Shielding performance for 4x4 mm holes
Array of 29x29 holes
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 10 100
Freq [GHz]
S
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
t = 1mm
t = 3mm
t = 7mm
t = 9mm
Fig. 5 Simulated shielding performance for case of 4mm holes aperture size
d
c
f
cutoff
2
= (2a)
2
cutoff
d

= (2b)
The frequency range shown on figures 3 through 6 is 3GHz
to just beyond cutoff. Thus, for d = 9mm, cutoff frequency is
reached at 17GHz as shown in Fig. 3. Likewise, Fig. 4 and 5
show cutoff frequencies of 30GHz and 37.5GHz for d = 5mm
and d = 4mm respectively. From a practical perspective, these
results clearly indicate that any system chassis designed for
shielding up to 40 GHz would require vent holes smaller than
4mm. Or, vent holes no larger than 3.75mm to be exact.
However, decreasing the size of aperture vent holes reduces
system cooling efficiency [5]. In the referenced work, this
was shown to be related to the existence of a static region near
the aperture walls hindering air to flow uniformly through the
vent holes. One corrective approach to this has been to
increase the density of the holes, also known as the total open
area ratio. Fig. 6a and 6b illustrate the effects of vent hole
spacing on shielding effectiveness. In the figures, hole
diameter are kept constant at d = 4mm. In the figures, the
holes depths are t = 1mm and t = 7mm respectively. While it
is shown that closer holes spacing results in lower shielding
performance, it should also be noted that even with the lowest
possible holes spacing a significant amount of shielding can
still be achieved. This observation is particularly important as
it suggests that for circumstances where smaller vent holes are
desired, the impact on thermal performance could be
effectively mitigated by using a dense holes arrangement.
In our investigation, the zero separation case between the
holes (sp = 0mm) is realized using infinitely thin perfect
electrical conducting plates to define each vent hole.
Effects of spacing between the holes
holes diameter = 4mm
(t = 1mm)
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 10 100
Frequency [GHz]
S
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
Spacing = 0mm
Spacing = 5mm
Spacing = 10mm
Fig. 6a Simulated effect of hole-to-hole spacing on shielding performance
for hole depth, t = 1mm
Effects of spacing between the holes
holes diameter = 4mm
(t = 7mm)
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 10 100
Frequency [GHz]
S
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
Spacing = 0mm
Spacing = 5mm
Spacing = 10mm
Fig. 6b Simulated effect of hole-to-hole spacing on shielding performance
for hole depth, t = 7mm
In practice, such case could be implemented by allowing a
very small amount of metal, equal to approximately one skin
depth at lowest frequency, between the holes. Honeycomb
vents come closest to implementing this optimal arrangement
of holes. This arrangement takes advantage of deeper holes to
improve shielding while keeping holes close together to
improve thermal performance.
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Furthermore, it can also be observed from the figures that as
the frequency increases, the curves eventually converge to
zero shielding as they approach a cutoff frequency which is
proportional to the holes aperture size.
III THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND MEASUREMENTS
In predicting the shielding performance associated with a
design, engineers have often relied on out-of-context
equations. Here, a more practical relationship, derived
directly from simulation data, is shown.
From observation of results illustrated in Fig. 3-6, it can be
noted that all curves, when plotted on a logarithmic frequency
scale, display a linear profile from start frequency up to nearly
3 /
cutoff
f
. Around this linear region, the slopes of all curves
maintain approximately a 20 dB/decade drop. Beyond
3 /
cutoff
f
, the curves follow a cubic-root profile shape. As a
result, the piecewise relation shown in (3) below is found to
best capture the shielding characteristic as a function of vent
holes opening size, holes depth and frequency.
In the piecewise relation, d is the hole size (in mm), f is the
frequency (in GHz), and t is the hole depth (in mm). The
20log factor represents the 20dB/decade slope exactly, the
(25(t-1/d)) factor accounts for effects due to hole depth as well
as hole diameter. The last term in the second equation is
expressed as a square of a cube root to closely match the
falloff observed during the simulations. The cutoff frequency
is given in (2).
Fig. 7 and 8 show a comparison of the calculated shielding
performance based on (3) against simulated results. The
equation is shown to provide a reasonably close match to the
simulation data for shields with holes that are 1 to 9 mm
across, thicknesses of 1 to 9 mm, and with a spacing between
holes of sp = 1mm.
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 10 100
Freq [GHz]
S
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
t=1mm (Simul.)
t=3mm (Simul.)
t=7mm (Simul.)
t=9mm (Simul.)
t=1mm (Calcul.)
t=3mm (Calcul.)
t=7mm (Calcul.)
t=9mm (Calcul.)
Fig. 7 Calculated and simulated shielding effectiveness values for 4mm
holes size
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1 10 100
Freq [GHz]
S
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
t=1mm (simul.)
t=3mm (simul.)
t=7mm (simul.)
t=9mm (simul.)
t=1mm (calcul.)
t=3mm (calcul.)
t=7mm (calcul.)
t=9mm (calcul.)
Fig. 8 Calculated and simulated shielding effectiveness values for 5mm
holes size
( )

< <
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
s

+ =
cutoff
cutoff
cutoff
cutoff
L H
cutoff
L
f f
f
for
f
f
t d
f
S t d f S
f
f for
d
t
f d t d f S
3
; 1 5 . 1 * ) , ,
3
( ) , , (
3
;
1
25 ) log( 20 5 . 3 56 ) , , (
3
2
(3)
816

Fig. 9 Enclosure prototype made of aluminum (dimensions: 5x 7x 3)
Fig. 10 Screen prototypes. (a) screen with no opening; (b) screen with a
single square hole; (c) screen with 3 x 9 array of square holes with
thickness=7mm
An experimental test case was setup in a laboratory setting
to investigate hole shielding effectiveness. While the test
environment is less than ideal, we felt that it would give us an
indication of the relative difference. Figs 9 and 10 show the
box enclosure prototype developed for this purpose and the
shield screens of single and multiple holes fabricated. In the
experiment, a signal generator was used to generate an
incident waveform signal. A double-ridged horn antenna of
uniform gain connected to a spectrum analyzer was used to
capture emission levels from the metal enclosure. During the
experiment, emissions levels were captured with the antenna
horn placed at a distance of 60cm away from the prototype.
Measurement results for 9mm square holes are depicted in
Fig. 11 and 12. The various peaks noted on the plots are
believed by the authors to be due to the enclosure cavity
resonances. These measurement results confirm that the
cutoff frequency is primarily dependent on the holes opening
size and is insensitive to hole metal thickness. This is in
agreement with waveguide theory which predicts that the
lowest cutoff frequency for the TE
10
mode of a square
waveguide follows (2a) and does not vary with the length of a
waveguide.
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Frequency [GHz]
M
e
a
s
u
r
e
d

s
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
Single hole case
(hole size = 9mm)
Measurements(t=5mm)
Calculations(t=5mm)
Measurements(t=0.5mm)
Calculations(t=0.5mm)
Fig. 11 Measurement results of metal enclosure prototype with single hole
opening with varying thickness
4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
0
10
20
30
40
Frequency [GHz]
M
e
a
s
u
r
e
d

s
h
i
e
l
d
i
n
g

[
d
B
]
3x9 Array of square holes
(hole size = 9mm)
Measurements
calculations
Fig. 12 Measurement results of metal enclosure with screen of 3x9 array of
airvent holes with size = 9mm.
(a)
(b)
(c)
817

IV CONCLUSION
A detailed computational analysis of vent holes shielding
effectiveness was presented. In the analysis based on finite-
difference time domain simulation, the impact of hole size,
hole depth, and hole-to-hole separation distance was
investigated. A new mathematical relation developed around
these same parameters was also introduced and shown to
predict simulated data well. Finally, validation of simulation
and analytical prediction is supported through data from
experimental measurements carried out in a laboratory.
V REFERENCES
[1] T. Y. Otoshi, A study of microwave leakage through
perforated plates, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech,
Vol.20, pp. 235-236, March 1972.
[2] B. Archambeault, and C. Brench, Shielded air vent
design guidelines from EMI modeling, IEEE EMC
Symposium, pp. 195-199, Aug. 1993.
[3] M. Li, J. Nuebel, J. Drewniak, R. E. DuBroff, T. H.
Hubbing, and T. Van Doren, EMI from airflow aperture
arrays in shielding enclosures Experimental, FDTD and
MoM modeling, IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat.,
Vol.42, No. 3, pp. 265-275, Aug 2000.
[4] American national standard for methods of measurement
of radio-noise emission from low-voltage electrical and
electronic equipment in the range of 9kHz to 40GHz,
ANSI C63.4-2001, American National Standards Institute,
New York.
[5] T. Jackman, W, Fu, F. Gisin, J. Duckett, and J. Evans, A
comparison of air flow and shielding effectiveness of
perforated enclosure panels, IEEE EMC Symposium,
vol. 2, pp. 583-585, Aug 1999.
818