Research on the influence of power frequency magnetic field of pantograph on pacemaker wearers' health in high-speed EMU.

When the popular means of transportation—high-speed trains meet the increasing rate of pacemaker implantation year by year, the research on the magnetic field environment on the health of pacemaker wearers in the carriage becomes an urgent problem. In this work, models of an electric multiple unit carriage with a pantograph as well as passengers with pacemakers were built by using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The B , E _in and J _in of human heart and other tissues, and the induced voltage (V_in) at the pacemaker electrode were calculated under the pantograph operating condition, so as to assess the effect of its magnetic field on the health of pacemaker wearers. The results showed that B _max in the carriage without passengers is 121.246 μT, occurs near the window. In the carriage, the B _max, E _{in max} and J _{in max} of heart and body, V_in at the pacemaker electrode of the passenger next to the window are greater than that in the middle of the carriage. The B _max, E _{in max} and J _{in max} of passengers' heart are 11.301μT, 1.613 mV/m and 139.030 μA/m², respectively. The B _max, E _{in max} and J _{in max} of passengers' body are 12.597μT, 0.788 mV/m and 75.299 μA/m², respectively. The maximum value of V_in at the tip of the pacemaker electrode of the passengers' is 0.048 mV. The B _max, E _{in max} in all tissues of passengers are much smaller than the basic limits of electromagnetic exposure to the public set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation. V_in at the electrode tip of passengers' pacemakers are less than the perception sensitivity set by the International Organization for Standardization. This work illustrated that the magnetic field generated by the pantograph is within the recognized accepted limits for passengers with pacemakers, but we still recommended that passengers wearing pacemakers should stay as far away from windows as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]