What is an “Electrostatic Shield”?

Electrostatically shielded (Faraday Shield) transformers provides a copper electrostatic shield between the primary and secondary windings. The shield is grounded and thus shunts some noise and transients to the ground path rather than passing them through to the secondary. Transformers having a K-Rating are required to have an electrostatic shield.

Electrostatically shielded transformers often preferred for electrical installations where electronic circuitry operating at low voltage DC is present and is very sensitive to ‘noise’. Recent testing of electrostatically shielded transformers has questioned their perceived effectiveness where the transformer’s secondary is grounded which would cover most applications.