Effect of electric and magnetic fields near an HVDC converter terminal on implanted cardiac pacemakers. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6925633· OSTI ID:6925633

Frazier, M. J.

The electromagnetic fields associated with HVDC converters and transmission lines constitute a unique environment for persons with implanted cardiac pacemakers. A measurement program has been conducted to assess the potential interfering effects of these harmonically rich fields on implanted pacemakers. The experimental procedures that were employed take into account the combined effects of the electric and magnetic fields. The effect of the resulting body current on the response of six pacemakers was assessed in the laboratory, using a previously developed model to relate body current to pacemaker pickup voltage. The results show that R-wave pacemaker reversion can be expected at some locations within the converter facility, but that a large safety margin for unperturbed pacemaker operation exists beneath the transmission lines.

• Research Organization: IIT Research Inst., Chicago, IL (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6925633
• Report Number(s): EPRI-EA-1511
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

200302 -- Power Transmission & Distribution-- DC Systems-- (1989-)
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
560400* -- Other Environmental Pollutant Effects
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CARDIAC PACEMAKERS
CURRENTS
DATA
DC SYSTEMS
DC TO DC CONVERTERS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HVDC SYSTEMS
IMAGES
INFORMATION
MAGNETIC FLUX
NUMERICAL DATA
PERFORMANCE
POWER SYSTEMS
POWER TRANSMISSION LINES