BFD-400: Digital B field measurement 1 Hz to 400 kHz
For more years than we care to remember the Narda ELT-400 was the go-to for low frequency magnetic field measurements. Easy to use with it’s built in ‘shaped time domain’ (STD) measurements it was capable of summing and correctly ‘weighting’ field strengths with a complicated harmonic content.
Weighting refers to correctly assessing harmonic content against a permissible field strength level that changes with frequency i.e. the shaped time domain or weighted peak method. All good so far but the problem was that only so many standards or guidelines with different permissible field strength levels or ‘shapes’ could be accommodated; the shaping was achieved by hardware as opposed to software and only so much hardware could fit into a handheld meter.
EMF Directive / UK CEMFAW Regulations ‘Low, High & Limb’ Action Levels simply couldn’t be shoehorned in alongside ICNIRP GP, occupational and other international / national levels. The solution was a range of different base units.
All of that has gone away with the BFD-400, a fully digital successor to the analogue ELT-400. The unit comes with common standards and guidelines loaded into the software plus the capability to add user defined levels.
It’s also got the benefit of operating in either the time or frequency domain making it ideal for detailed standards driven applications. Conversely it can display results as simple percentages of Action Levels etc. in the easy-to-understand STD mode, ideal for industrial workplace assessments.
Also, the BFD-400 doesn’t necessarily require a handheld meter to operate. Whilst part of the FieldMan meter family it’s possible to connect probes directly to a PC or laptop.
For detailed measurements the high-resolution streaming option enables continuous recording, storage and post processing of time domain raw data and high-resolution FFT frequency analysis. Again, ideal for standards driven laboratory applications: automotive, IEC 62233, IEC 62311 etc.
Just like the ELT-400 the BFD-400-1 is the 100 cm2 sensor and the BFD-400-3 is the much smaller 3 cm2 sensor option.
Click here for the BFD-400-1 datasheet
Click here for the TSX-BFD High Resolution Stream datasheet