Design
Often there is a requirement to create a magnetically shielded environment over a large volume, allowing for high precision experiments to take place inside of the room. A previous solution involved using our proprietary brand of MuMetal® sheets inside the existing room, creating a path for the magnetic field to flow through the magnetic shielding material.
There are several difficulties that come with attempting to shield a room with MuMetal® sheets. Depending on the volume of the room and the shielding factor required, it may be necessary to use more than one layer of material, and so one must consider any structural reinforcement required. A further difficulty of shielding an entire room is ensuring there is a continuous path for the field to travel through. The main issues arise in the corners and seams, where it is difficult to ensure the panels are in contact to avoid any magnetic flux leakage. Each room will more than likely be completely unique, so multiple rooms would require very different designs and pieces. We must also adhere to the ventilation and lighting requirements for the room, both of which can be troublesome both structurally and magnetically.
At Magnetic Shield Corporation we have put time and research into developing a solution to the problems outlined above, in the form of a free standing magnetically shielded room, or MuRoom. The MuRoom is a free standing MuMetal® room, which can be developed to cater to many different requirements such as workable volume, desired shielding factor, and different points of access. The MuRoom is made in a similar fashion to the MuMetal® sheet solutions, by using fully annealed MuMetal® (Co-Netic® AA Perfection Annealed) panels. However these are joined together and supported using an aluminium frame. A self-standing MuRoom is cost efficient compared to adding sheet or wall shielding on a room by room basis.
Sometimes an application may require shielding across a larger frequency range than MuMetal® can effectively shield. Rooms can be created for both magnetic and RF shielding by layering fully annealed MuMetal® (comparable to our Co-Netic® AA Perfection Annealed alloy) with electrically conductive materials like Aluminum in order to meet such requirements.
For more design considerations click here.
There are several difficulties that come with attempting to shield a room with MuMetal® sheets. Depending on the volume of the room and the shielding factor required, it may be necessary to use more than one layer of material, and so one must consider any structural reinforcement required. A further difficulty of shielding an entire room is ensuring there is a continuous path for the field to travel through. The main issues arise in the corners and seams, where it is difficult to ensure the panels are in contact to avoid any magnetic flux leakage. Each room will more than likely be completely unique, so multiple rooms would require very different designs and pieces. We must also adhere to the ventilation and lighting requirements for the room, both of which can be troublesome both structurally and magnetically.
At Magnetic Shield Corporation we have put time and research into developing a solution to the problems outlined above, in the form of a free standing magnetically shielded room, or MuRoom. The MuRoom is a free standing MuMetal® room, which can be developed to cater to many different requirements such as workable volume, desired shielding factor, and different points of access. The MuRoom is made in a similar fashion to the MuMetal® sheet solutions, by using fully annealed MuMetal® (Co-Netic® AA Perfection Annealed) panels. However these are joined together and supported using an aluminium frame. A self-standing MuRoom is cost efficient compared to adding sheet or wall shielding on a room by room basis.
Sometimes an application may require shielding across a larger frequency range than MuMetal® can effectively shield. Rooms can be created for both magnetic and RF shielding by layering fully annealed MuMetal® (comparable to our Co-Netic® AA Perfection Annealed alloy) with electrically conductive materials like Aluminum in order to meet such requirements.
For more design considerations click here.
Our on-site one layer MuRoom has been constructed with .040” [1.0mm] thick fully annealed MuMetal® (Co-Netic® AA Perfection) panels, supported by an aluminium frame constructed using a profile system. If further layers were required, the aluminium frame acts as a magnetically insulating material due to a low permeability, making it ideal for use with magnetic shielding. This room reaches an average shielding factor of over 150 (43.5 dB) across a central 500mm² volume, and over 100 within the central 1000mm² volume (40 dB). These results are largely attributed to developments into the panel joining techniques. With this joint system in place we have created a high performance, structurally sound shield. The internal volume of the room is 7’6’’ x 7’6’’ x 9’10’’ [2m x 2m x 3m], and contains rounded corners to maximize the shielding capabilities further.
A map of the magnetic field inside our MuRoom depicts the working area of the room. Some leakage is observed at the door due to material boundaries; however, this effect is very localised, and the room does not fall below a shielding factor of 30 (29.5 dB) at any point.
MuMetal® is a registered trademark of Magnetic Shield Corporation USA
Co-Netic® is a registered trademark of Magnetic Shield Corporation USA