Effects of pulsed magnetic field on personal computers

Around a lightning conductor or a metal construction which conducts a transient electric current, there is a strong pulsed magnetic field. A pulsed magnetic field simulation system was developed to study the effect of strong magnetic pulses on a micro-electronic system. In the experiment, personal computers were put into the electromagnetic environment of the simulator. Coupling paths, interference threshold, the relation of the threshold to rise time and duration of the field were studied by changing the peak value, duration and rise time of the simulated pulsed magnetic field. Results show that the connecting cables are the main paths that introduce interference; simple shielding can reduce the interference to some extent and the interference is more likely to affect the micro-electronic system if its time derivative is larger.