TDK to Construct and Install New Anechoic Chamber

(Business News & Technology News, 9 Sep 2008)

TDK Corp. will construct a large-scale, high-performance anechoic chamber at its Technical Center in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture. The new chamber, which is scheduled for completion in about October 2009, will make possible measurement, evaluation, and analysis of electromagnetic waves at the world's highest levels. The facility will consist of a 10-meter room, a 3-meter room, an antenna room, and a shielded room. When combined with existing facilities (a 10-meter room and a 3-meter room), TDK will be able to perform electromagnetic wave measurements of all products that it handles as well as measurements at the world's highest levels tailored to customer new product development.

Over the last several years, electronics devices have become increasingly high performance and multi-function in conjunction with advances in electronics technologies. In addition, the use of electronic control and electronic devices for various functions is increasing in motor vehicles. As a result of these technological innovations, electronic circuits have become more dense, frequencies have increased, and voltages throughout circuits have dropped, making circuits more susceptible to adverse impact from extremely weak electromagnetic waves. The fundamental areas of electromagnetic wave countermeasures are electromagnetic interference (EMI) countermeasures, which protect other circuits from the electromagnetic waves emitted by a device, and electromagnetic susceptibility (EMS) countermeasures, which protect against effects from external electromagnetic waves. Together, these two types of countermeasures are referred to as electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) countermeasures. It is now the norm to consider EMC countermeasures from the product design and development stages. Global restrictions on permissible electromagnetic waves are becoming increasingly strict from the perspective of preventing malfunctions and ensuring safety, and as a result, EMC countermeasures are more important than ever.

To respond to this demand, TDK will construct a state-of-the-art, cutting-edge anechoic chamber to measure and evaluate electromagnetic waves during new product development and to propose EMC countermeasure technologies and countermeasure products as well as reinforce the EMC solution business by analyzing customer products.

In addition to the central facility at the Technical Center, TDK has anechoic chambers at six other EMC centers worldwide to meet the needs of customers: at the Akita Plant in Japan; Austin, Texas in the United States; Seoul, Korea; Suzhou and Huanan in China; and Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia.

TDK also has an extensive lineup of ferrite products. Ferrite is a material that absorbs electromagnetic waves. TDK has used this strength to construct anechoic chambers since 1969, and has installed 1,000 chambers worldwide.

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