Measurements of intermediate-frequency electric and magnetic fields in households
- Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/iMinds, iGent, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 15, B-9052 Ghent (Belgium)
- Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Public Health England, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0RQ (United Kingdom)
- Institute of Non-Ionizing Radiation (INIS), Pohorskega bataljona 215, Ljubljana 1000 (Slovenia)
- Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, 3508 Utrecht (Netherlands)
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Socinstrasse 57, P.O. Box, 4002 Basel (Switzerland)
- Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and Municipal Institute of Medical Research (IMIM-Hospital del Mar), Doctor Aiguader, 88, 08003 Barcelona (Spain)
Historically, assessment of human exposure to electric and magnetic fields has focused on the extremely-low-frequency (ELF) and radiofrequency (RF) ranges. However, research on the typically emitted fields in the intermediate-frequency (IF) range (300 Hz to 1 MHz) as well as potential effects of IF fields on the human body remains limited, although the range of household appliances with electrical components working in the IF range has grown significantly (e.g., induction cookers and compact fluorescent lighting). In this study, an extensive measurement survey was performed on the levels of electric and magnetic fields in the IF range typically present in residences as well as emitted by a wide range of household appliances under real-life circumstances. Using spot measurements, residential IF field levels were found to be generally low, while the use of certain appliances at close distance (20 cm) may result in a relatively high exposure. Overall, appliance emissions contained either harmonic signals, with fundamental frequencies between 6 kHz and 300 kHz, which were sometimes accompanied by regions in the IF spectrum of rather noisy, elevated field strengths, or much more capricious spectra, dominated by 50 Hz harmonics emanating far in the IF domain. The maximum peak field strengths recorded at 20 cm were 41.5 V/m and 2.7 A/m, both from induction cookers. Finally, none of the appliance emissions in the IF range exceeded the exposure summation rules recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC 62233) standard at 20 cm and beyond (maximum exposure quotients EQ{sub E} 1.0 and {sub E}Q{sub H} 0.13). - Highlights: • Survey of residential electric and magnetic fields at intermediate frequencies (IF). • IF-EF and -MF emitted by 280 household appliances were characterised. • Strongest emitters were induction cookers, CFLs, LCD-TVs, and microwave ovens. • No emissions exceeded ICNIRP limits (highest exposure quotient was 1.00).
- OSTI ID:
- 22689543
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Research, Vol. 154; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2017 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0013-9351
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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