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GND Bridge Effect on Reduction of Conducted

Emission from Three-Phase Motor Drive System
Yuandong Guo1, Srinath Penugonda1, Jun Fan1, Hongseok Kim1, Minho Kim2, Junesang Lee2, Jungrae Ha2, Sangwon
Yun2

1
Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri, USA

2
EBS R&D Center Electronics Design 1, MANDO CO. Ltd., 255 Pangyo-ro, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South
Korea

kimhong@mst.edu

Abstract—In electric vehicles, the pulse width modulation
(PWM) technology is widely used in three-phase motor drive
systems for its high performance. However, the high-speed
switching MOSFETs may induce excessively high dv/dt and di/dt,
which can cause electromagnetic interference issues, making it
more difficult to satisfy electromagnetic compatibility standards.
In this paper, the current conducted emission (CCE) test of a
three-phase motor drive system is performed based on CISPR 25
component-level testing setup for AM radio frequency band,
which is from 530 kHz to 1.8 MHz. Under these conditions,
common-mode (CM) noise generation mechanisms of the motor
drive system are identified through measurements. It is found
that, the dominant mechanism is the mode conversion from
differential switching current to CM current due to the
imbalances in the PCB structure and filter network which are at
the dc input side of the three-phase inverter. Based on the
finding, GND bridges were added between the two different
reference GND nets for digital signals and power to reduce the
CM noise flowing through the cable harness. The GND bridge
effect on the reduction of CCE in AM band is experimentally
verified and further studied using simulations.
Keywords—three-phase motor; electromagnetic interference;
electromagnetic compatibility; CISPR 25; common mode;
differntial mode; mode conversion; conducted emission; three-
phase inverter; radio frequency interference
I. INTRODUCTION
Electric vehicles (EVs) are a symbol of the revolution of
transportation and thus draw a great deal of concerns in
industries. A motor drive system is one of the most essential
parts used in EVs. With the application of pulse width
modulation (PWM) technology, the three-phase motor drive
systems used in EVs can be controlled more effectively and
EMC Europe 2019 | Barcelona
to meet the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards [2]
- [4].
The PWM frequencies used in three-phase motor drive
systems are usually tens of kHz. Although low-pass filters are
used in the associated PCB and system design, there is still
possibility that the common-mode (CM) noise generated from
motor drive systems can affect the performance of other
electrical components inside an EV (e. g., an AM radio
receiver) in the form of conducted and/or radiated emissions
[4] [5]. On the other hand, to prevent the radio frequency
interference in a vehicle environment, the limits of conducted
emission tests in CISPR 25 are intentionally set to be strict,
which makes it more challenging to pass the standards based
on CISPR 25 [6].
The PWM carrier frequency of the three-phase motor drive
system we deal with in this paper is 20 kHz. Because the AM
band is the closest radio frequency band to the carrier
frequency, the noise levels in the AM band are higher than
those in other radio bands. The motor drive system is tested
according to the setup shown in Fig. 1, which is the
component-level current conducted emission (CCE) test setup
based on CISPR 25. The common-mode current flowing
through the cable harness is directly measured by an RF current
probe at two different locations: 50 mm and 750 mm away
from the device under test (DUT), respectively. It can be
expected and found that the CCE test results at these two
locations are very similar as the length of the cable harness is
much shorter than the wavelength in AM band. Thus, only
CCE tests are conducted only at 50 mm location for this study.

reliably. However, the drawback is that the fast switching

semiconductor switches used in the three-phase inverter of a
motor drive system can generate high dv/dt and di/dt noises [1]
which can cause electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues,
For Peer Review Only

and also increase a possibility for a motor drive system to fail

This work was partly supported by the NSF No. IIP-1440110 and
MANDO Co. Ltd., Seongnam, South Korea

Fig. 1. Component-level CCE test setup based on CISPR 25
Many publications have been focused on the common-
mode EMI issues of three-phase motor drive system. In [7], the
implementation of measurement of CM voltage inside a three-
phase induction motor drive system is shown. In [1] - [4] and
[8], the authors conducted research on EMI modeling and
simulation methodologies for motor drive system and
associated inverter. In [9], the conducted EMI from motor
drive system under load operation is simulated and predicted
using an equivalent circuit model. Mitigation methods for CM
EMI are proposed in [10] - [13] by using either passive or
active filtering technologies.
However, all of these publications are concentrating on the
CM EMI problems induced by the CM voltage source inside a
motor drive system.
In this paper, first, the dominant mechanism for the
generation of CM current is identified to be the transformation
from differential to common mode due to the imbalanced PCB
structure and filter design through measurement methods.
Then, the possible noise propagation paths are analyzed
and identified in Section III. Based on the study, a simple but
effective mitigation method of adding “GND bridges” between
the reference GND nets for digital signals (DGND) and power
modules (PGND) is proposed and verified through
measurements. A circuit model is built to explain the physics in
Section IV. Conclusions are drawn at the end of this paper.
II. DOMINANT MECHANISM FOR THE GENERATION OF
COMMON-MODE CURRENT
It is well-known that a three-phase CM voltage can be
defined as an equivalent CM noise source in the three-phase
motor drive system [4] [7] [9] [10] - [13]. The CM voltage can
drive displacement currents through the parasitic capacitances,
which are between the MOSFETs of the three-phase inverter
and the heatsinks and between three-phase motor and its metal
EMC Europe 2019 | Barcelona
chassis, to generate CM current flowing through the cable
harness.
Fig. 2 shows the mechanism for the generation of CM
current induced by the CM voltage using a simplified CCE test
For Peer Review Only
setup and DUT structure, where the red arrows show the paths
of CM current. The black dash box shows the boundary of the
DUT and Vcm is the abovementioned CM voltage. C h and Cm
are the parasitic capacitances between MOSFETs and
heatsinks, and between three-phase motor and its chassis,
respectively. Zdecap denotes the impedance of decoupling
capacitors between motor power bus and reference ground net,
and their associated PCB interconnections. Z link is the
impedance of dc-link capacitors, and Z p1 ~ Z p4 are the parasitic
impedances of either PCB interconnections or MOSFETs. All
Class Y capacitors are included in the “EMI Filter” box. The
DUT has a metal strap which is connected to the ground plane
on the wooden table during the CCE test based on CISPR 25
requirements. In Fig. 2, the majority of the CM current
generated by the CM voltage flows on the metal strap and the
ground plane on the wooden table, and crosses the LISNs and
goes through the cable harness back to the source.
Fig. 2. CM current path induced by the CM voltage
It is also known that there is a differential current source
inside the motor drive system, which is the switching current in
the three-phase inverter. Fig. 3 shows the simplified DUT
structure and CCE test setup with the differential current
source, where the parameters have the same definitions as in
Fig. 2, except Z p1' and Z p 2' are different from Z p1 and Z p 2 .
The mechanism for the generation of CM current induced by
the switching current is the mode conversion from differential
to common mode due to the imbalances in the PCB structure
and filter design, which can be explained by using the circuit
model in Fig. 4.
Fig. 3. CM current path induced by the CM voltage
In Fig. 4, if the circuit structure is balanced (without L1 ),
I1 and I 2 will have the same magnitude but opposite
directions. And there will be no CM current. By introducing
the inductor L1 to only one net, the balance is broken. Thus,
the magnitudes of I1 and I 2 are no longer identical. The
difference in the magnitudes between these two currents will
determine the magnitude of the induced CM current, which is
I CM . Z1 , Z 2 and the associated dot line in Fig. 4 mimic the
impedances of the parasitic components and the return path of
CM current, respectively.
 paper. The dominant mechanism for the generation of CM
current is the transformation from differential mode to common
mode.
One possible suppression method is shown in Fig. 6. By
adding a decoupling capacitor or Class X capacitor close
enough to the differential noise source, the magnitude of the
generated CM current can be decreased [14] [15].

Fig. 4. Circuit model to explain the mechanism for the generation of CM

current due to an imbalanced circuit structure

To check if the magnitude of the CM noise through the

cable harness is proportional to the magnitude of the CM
voltage which is known to be responsible for the CM noises
from a motor drive system, both the CM voltage Vcm shown in
Fig. 2 and the CM current flowing through the cable harness
are measured simultaneously in the setup shown in Fig. 1,
while the peak amplitude of the phase output current is
increased from 20 A to 80 A. Agilent DSO 9204H oscilloscope
is used to record the time-domain waveforms with Agilent
1159A differential voltage probe and the RF current probe
FCC F-65. Two pre-amplifiers, Mini-Circuits ZFL-1000LN,
are used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
After time-domain CM voltage and current waveforms are
obtained, they are converted to frequency-domain spectra. Fig.
5 shows the maximum noise peak values of the CM voltage
and CM current in the AM band with respect to the phase
output current level.
Fig. 6. One suppression method for differential mode noise reduction
Unfortunately, only the decoupling capacitors larger than
10µF can work in the AM band. And a set of decoupling
capacitors will be needed and have to be mounted in parallel to
achieve enough reduction on the induced CM current. In
addition to the EMI issues, to satisfy the requirements of high
power and large current applications in the motor drive system,
the package size of one 10µF capacitor must be at least 1005,
which makes it impossible to mount decoupling capacitors in
parallel on the PCB. Therefore, other mitigation methods have
to be developed.
III. IDENTIFICATION OF NOISE PROPAGATION PATHS
Inside the DUT, the MOSFETs of the three-phase inverter,
the gate driver, the dc input voltage monitoring IC and
associated components are mounted on a single PCB, where a
cutout between DGND and PGND is found and partially
shown in red in Fig. 7.

Fig. 5. Comparison of the highest peak values of the CM voltage and CM

current spectra in the AM band with respect to the phase output current level
EMC Europe 2019 | Barcelona

From Fig. 5, it is found that the maximum spectral peak

level of CM current in the AM band is inversely proportional
to that of CM voltage in the AM band, but proportional to the
phase output current level. This result shows that the CM Fig. 7. Part of the cutout between the reference GND nets of digital signals
voltage Vcm is not the dominant noise source in AM radio
For Peer Review Only

(DGND) and power (PGND)

frequency band for the motor drive system we deal with in this
 Since the dc input voltage monitoring IC is at DGND side,
the monitoring circuitry is right across the GND cutout, as
shown in Fig. 7. Based on the analysis in Section II, the two
noise sources (only one is dominant) are in the three-phase
inverter, which is located in the “PGND” region. So the dc
input voltage monitoring circuitry may carry the noise resulting
from the operating switching current across the GND cutout.
Fig. 8 shows the voltage spectrum of the dc input voltage
monitoring signal, which is obtained and converted from the
time-domain measurement. It is clear that in AM band, the dc
input voltage monitoring circuitry carries the noise generated
from the three-phase inverter as the difference between two
adjacent frequency components is exactly equal to the PWM
carrier frequency, which is 20 kHz.
Fig. 8. Voltage spectrum of the dc voltage monitoring signal
Similarly, it can be found that there is a phase voltage
monitoring circuitry which also crosses the cutout of two
reference GND nets. Fig. 9 shows the spectrum of the voltage
for one phase-monitoring signal. The phase voltage monitoring
circuitry and the dc input voltage monitoring circuitry provide
noise leakage paths, through which the differential mode
current can be converted to the CM current on the cable
harness.
EMC Europe 2019 | Barcelona
Fig. 9. Spectrum of the common-mode voltage for one phase monitoring
signal
In fact, more monitoring circuitries were found that cross
the GND cutout inside the DUT during this study.
For Peer Review Only
With the differential switching current at the dc input side
of the inverter as the dominant source and the dc voltage
monitoring circuitry as one path for noise propagation, the
noise coupling mechanism is explained as shown in Fig. 10,
where I dm ( f ) , Zdecap , Z link , Z p1' , Z p 2' , Z p3 , Z p 4 and the “EMI
Filter” box have the same definitions as in Fig. 3. ZY cap
represents the impedance of the Class Y capacitor between
DGND and DUT metal chassis. Other Class Y capacitors are
still included in the “EMI Filter” box. The black dash box also
shows the boundary of the DUT.
Fig. 10. Current flow with the differential switching current as the source
and dc input voltage monitoring circuitry as one propagation path
ZGND and ZBridge denote the parasitic impedances between
DGND and PGND with and without the GND bridges,
respectively. Due to the finite differential impedance in the
EMI filter module, some amount of the switching current goes
out of the DUT through the dc input voltage monitoring
circuitry and flows on the cable harness.
A mitigation idea of adding bridges across the GND cutout
is proposed and its effect on the CM noise is tested with the
CCE test setup. The results are shown in Fig. 11. The
horizontal red line is the limit of Class 5 in the CCE test when
the average detector is used according to CISPR 25 standard.
The peaks at around 0.7 MHz and 1.4 MHz are from a dc
converter in the DUT, not the motor drive system. Hence, they
are ignored in this study. In Fig. 11, the reduction is 7.1 dB by
comparing the peak values of both blue and green curves over
the whole frequency range and 14 dB below 1MHz.
Based on Fig. 10, the GND bridges can make ZBridge
dramatically smaller than ZGND , so the amount of current
flowing through the cable harness would decrease. The noise
reduction mechanism is further explained in Section IV using a
circuit simulation model.
 (a).Circuit model

Fig. 11. CCE 50 mm test to verify the effect of GND bridges

IV. CIRCUIT MODELING OF COMMON-MODE NOISE

PROPAGATION AND REDUCTION MECHANISM
The mechanism of noise propagation and reduction can be
further modeled and explained through circuit simulation. The
equivalent circuit model of Fig. 10 is built and shown in Fig.
12 (a), where I _ AC mimics the differential-mode current
source, and C1 , C 2 and C 4 are the de-coupling capacitor, DC-
link capacitor and the Y-capacitor between DGND and DUT
metal chassis, respectively. L1 denotes the parasitic inductance (b).Results of circuit modeling to show the effect of GND bridges

of motor power bus, with its one end connected to the dc input Fig. 12. Circuit modeling of common-mode noise propagation and
reduction mechanism
voltage monitoring IC, which is represented using C5 and R3 .
L2 ~ L5 are Z p1' , Z p 2' , Z p3 and Z p 4 in Fig. 10. L6 is the
TABLE I. COMPONENT VALUES IN THE CIRCUIT MODEL
differential-mode inductor inside the passive filter box and
Name Value Name Value Name Value
L7 is the parasitic inductance between DGND and PGND. I1
C1 10µF L1 1.85nH L6 2µH
and I 2 are the currents flowing on the positive and negative
lines, respectively. The CM current on the cable harness is C2 3300µF L2 1.0nH L7 56nH
calculated using (1). C3 30µF L3 1.0nH L7’a 5.2nH
I I C4 20µF L4 3.6nH R1/R2 50ohm
ICM  1 2 (1)
2 C5 100nF L5 3.6nH R3 15.1kohm
L7’ represents the parasitic impedance of the GND bridges between DGND and PGND
a.
R1 and R2 are the impedances of two LISNs used in CCE
test setup. Thus, they are 50 ohms. The values of the rest The simulated results shown in Fig. 12 (b) are well matched
components in the circuit are determined based on the with the measured results in terms of the same behavior. The
schematic or the corresponding datasheets or using an difference in the reduction for the maximum values between
electromagnetic field simulator. Table I lists the values for all measurement and simulation could be due to the simplicity of
components in the circuit model. the circuit model.
By changing the value of L7 , the effect of GND bridges is Thus, the added GND bridges across the cutout between
DGND and PGND can effectively reduce the magnitudes of
clearly shown in Fig. 12 (b). In AM radio frequency range,
the CM current resulting from the differential-mode noise
maximum 34 dB reduction is achieved when GND bridges are
source, which is the operating switching current inside the
applied.
motor drive system.
EMC Europe 2019 | Barcelona

V. CONCLUSION
This paper analyzed the dominant mechanism of the
For Peer Review Only

generation of CM current on cable harness for the motor drive

system, and proposed an effective mitigation method for
CISPR 25 CCE test, which is adding GND bridges between
 two different reference GND nets. The possible noise
propagation paths are identified. The effect of GND bridges is
analyzed using circuit simulation, and verified by measured
data.
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