Multiconductor Reduction Technique for Modeling Common-Mode Currents on Cable Bundles at High Frequency for Automotive Applications

This paper presents the fundamentals of the so-called “Equivalent Cable Bundle Method” for the calculation over a large frequency range of common-mode currents induced on cable bundles by an electromagnetic (EM) perturbation. In particular, the method aims at overcoming the limitation of the multiconductor transmission line theory (MTLN), which is based on the propagation of the quasi-transverse EM (TEM) mode and efficiently used only at “low frequencies.” The purpose of the method described here is to reduce the computation time by reducing the complexity of the cable bundle models. After a short presentation of the “high frequency” coupling problem, first, the theoretical basis of the method, and, second, the numerical and experimental validations performed on prototypal cable bundles, in order to illustrate the efficiency and the advantages of the method, are presented. The method described in this paper is considered as a required first step in order to prepare wider applications on real systems in the near future.