Longitudinal conversion loss of power line network for typical Singapore household

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) radiation from power line communications (PLC) network has been one of the major concerns for the widespread use of broadband PLC technology. It is well known that EMI radiation from PLC network is dominantly common mode (CM) by nature and the cause of CM current is the electrical unbalance of the power line network. Hence, for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) planning purposes, an assessment on the electrical unbalance of the power network in the frequency range of up to 30 MHz is essential to provide insights of EMI radiation. The electrical imbalance of the power network can be measured in terms of the longitudinal conversion loss (LCL), which is defined as the ratio differential mode (DM) signal injected into a power network to CM signal resulted from the power network imbalance. The LCL of a power line network of a typical local apartment unit is measured and analyzed using a two-current-probes approach. The measured LCL serves as an indicator to predict the propensity of the power line network to generate EMI radiation due to the electrical unbalance under different network configurations and loading conditions