The problem of noise cross contamination through power supply is often overlooked. Reducing its effect can result in significant performance gains for any system.
The key factor is that each system component is not blameless and generates significant mains noise itself. In terms of power supply, it is also usually in close proximity to other components in the system, compounding the problem.
Looking at Figure 1 we see a simple system has been connected to the mains power supply via a generic conditioning filter.
The noise signatures generated by each component are represented by different colours.
In this configuration any incoming mains borne noise is attenuated coming into the system, but as the system components are connected in parallel after the filter, noise can pass from one component to another, reducing potential performance. The presence of the filter will have an effect on this transmission, but it is far from the optimum solution.
Figure 2 shows a multiple filter configuration as pioneered by ISOL-8's designer Nic Poulson. External noise is blocked as before. But significantly, each component is also prevented from influencing the performance of another: the optimum solution.
© 2010 ISOL-8 Teknologies Ltd. Tel: 020 8856 8856
