Devices, systems and methods for reducing conducted and radiated emissions and susceptibility

A system for reducing the susceptibility of a system to be protected from undesired radiated or conducted energy, while allowing desired electrical energy to be provided to the system to be protected, comprising:

• a continuously electrically conductive enclosure forming a three-dimensional structure having an enclosed interior volume for receiving a system to be protected;
• said continuously electrically conductive enclosure comprising a wall;
• a signal feedthrough passing through said wall of said electrically conductive enclosure, said signal feedthrough having an input end and an output end;
• said signal feedthrough able to be electrically coupled to a source of time-varying electrical energy on said input side, receiving input time-varying electrical energy from said source of time-varying electrical energy, convert said input time-varying electrical energy to time-varying mechanical energy representative of said input time-varying electrical energy, transmit said time-varying mechanical energy to said output end of said feedthrough, and convert, at the output end, said time-varying mechanical energy to output time-varying electrical energy that is representative of said input time-varying electrical energy;
• wherein said input said and said output side of said feedthrough are located on opposite sides of a wall of said continuously electrically conductive enclosure, such that either the input side of said feedthrough is exterior to said enclosed interior volume and said output said of said feedthrough is inside said enclosed interior volume, or said output side of said feedthrough is exterior to said enclosed interior volume and said input side of said feedthrough is inside said enclosed interior volume;
• wherein said signal feedthrough does not provide an electrically conductive path from outside the continuously electrically conductive enclosure to inside the continuously electrically conductive enclosure;
• and wherein said signal feedthrough does not provide a path for radiated electromagnetic energy to pass from said outside environment into said enclosed interior volume;
• said signal feedthrough comprising an continuous, uninterrupted electrically conductive layer completely covering a cross section of the feedthrough, wherein said electrically conductive layer comprises a periphery external to the feedthrough that is in uninterrupted electrical contact with a conductive surface of said electrically conductive enclosure, such that radiated energy from outside the electrically conductive enclosure does not pass into said enclosed interior volume.

A method for reducing the susceptibility of a system to be protected from undesired energy, while allowing desired energy to be provided to, or received from, the system to be protected, comprising:

• enclosing a system to be protected in an enclosed interior volume of an electrically conductive enclosure completely enclosing said enclosed interior volume with electrically conductive surfaces;
• providing a signal feedthrough passing through said electrically conductive enclosure allowing desired energy to be communicated to the system to be protected, wherein said signal feedthrough does not provide an electrically conductive path between said outside environment and said system to be protected, and wherein said signal feedthrough does not provide a path for radiated electromagnetic energy to pass from said outside environment into said enclosed interior volume;
• said signal feedthrough comprising an electrically conductive layer, wherein said electrically conductive layer comprises a periphery that is in uninterrupted electrical contact with said electrically conductive enclosure such that radiated energy from said outside environment does not pass into said enclosed interior volume, and
• wherein said signal feedthrough communicates said source of desired energy to said system to be protected via an electrically non-conductive mechanical coupling.

A signal feedthrough capable of providing designed energy to a system to be protected, while preventing unwanted energy from being provided to the system to be protected, comprising:

• input structure for receiving an input desired signal;
• an input transducer in communication with said for converting the received input desired signal to mechanical energy representing the input desired signal, said input transducer in communication with said input structure;
• and
• a structure for communicating the mechanical energy through an electrically conductive layer to a receiving output transducer;
• wherein said receiving output transducer is adapted to receive the mechanical energy and convert it to an output signal that is a replica of the received input desired signal;
• wherein there is no electrically conductive path through the signal feedthrough of the invention.