Evaluation of Flexible Rogowski Coil Performances In Power Frequency Applications

This paper investigates the effects of some influence quantities on the measurement of power frequency sinusoidal currents by means of flexible Rogowski coil sensors. The analysis is carried out through a numerical model, which is specifically developed and allows both the prediction of the circuital and coil parameter effects and the improvement of the coil design. The estimate of the measurement uncertainty associated with the on-site use of a flexible and openable Rogowski coil is finally given by assuming relatively controlled operating conditions

In silico evaluation of the thermal stress induced by MRI switched gradient fields in patients with metallic hip implant

This work focuses on the in silico evaluation of the energy deposed by MRI switched gradient fields in bulk metallic implants and the consequent temperature increase in the surrounding tissues. An original computational strategy, based on the subdivision of the gradient coil switching sequences into sub-signals and on the time-harmonic electromagnetic field solution, allows to realistically simulate the evolution of the phenomena produced by the gradient coils fed according to any MRI sequence. Then, Pennes' bioheat equation is solved through a Douglas-Gunn time split scheme to compute the time-dependent temperature increase. The procedure is validated by comparison with laboratory results, using a component of a realistic hip implant embedded within a phantom, obtaining an agreement on the temperature increase better than 5%, lower than the overall measurement uncertainty. The heating generated inside the body of a patient with a unilateral hip implant when undergoing an Echo-Planar Imaging (EPI) MRI sequence is evaluated and the role of the parameters affecting the thermal results (body position, coil performing the frequency encoding, effects of thermoregulation) is discussed. The results show that the gradient coils can generate local increases of temperature up to some kelvin when acting without radiofrequency excitation. Hence, their contribution in general should not be disregarded when evaluating patients' safety

Evaluation of the Electromagnetic Environment Around Underground HVDC Lines

This paper analyses the magnetic-field emissions of a high-voltage dc transmission line constituted by two couples of underground cables laid along a highway. The transmission system, including all its components (transformers, converters filters, and line), is modeled through a circuital approach, which provides the distribution of the current harmonics along the line length. The magnetic field produced in the environment is then estimated by a hybrid finite element/boundary element method. The electromagnetic interferences with existing appliances and the human exposure to magnetic fields are investigated considering different laying configurations, conductor dispositions, and supply conditions. Compliance with regulations limiting human exposure and technical standards ensuring electromagnetic compatibility of appliances and devices are assessed

Modeling analysis of the electromagnetic braking action on rotating solid cylinders

AbstractThe electromagnetic diffusion and the electromechanical phenomena arising in a solid cylinder rotating inside a magnetic field are here analyzed. The study is developed through a time stepping Finite Element voltage-driven formulation, employing the sliding mesh technique for handling the cylinder motion. The influence on the dynamic behavior and energy dissipation of the material electric and magnetic properties, the geometrical parameters and the supply conditions is investigated considering a model problem

Dynamic Simulation of a Fe-Ga Energy Harvester Prototype Through a Preisach-Type Hysteresis Model

This paper presents the modeling of an Fe–Ga energy harvester prototype, within a large range of values of operating parameters (mechanical preload, amplitude and frequency of dynamic load, electric load resistance). The simulations, based on a hysteretic Preisach-type model, employ a voltage-driven finite element formulation using the fixed-point technique, to handle the material nonlinearities. Due to the magneto–mechanical characteristics of Fe–Ga, a preliminary tuning must be performed for each preload to individualize the fixed point constant, to ensure a good convergence of the method. This paper demonstrates how this approach leads to good results for the Fe–Ga prototype. The relative discrepancies between experimental and computational values of the output power remain lower than 5% in the entire range of operating parameters considered

Uncertainty propagation in phaseless electric properties tomography

Uncertainty propagation in a phaseless magnetic resonance-based electric properties tomography technique is investigated using the Monte Carlo method. The studied inverse method, which recovers the electric properties distribution at radiofrequency inside a scatterer irradiated by the coils of a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, is based on the contrast source inversion technique adapted to process phaseless input data.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures. 2019 International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA

Simplified modeling of implanted medical devices with metallic filamentary closed loops exposed to low or medium frequency magnetic fields

Background and objectives: Electric currents are induced in implanted medical devices with metallic fila-mentary closed loops (e.g., fixation grids, stents) when exposed to time varying magnetic fields, as those generated during certain diagnostic and therapeutic biomedical treatments. A simplified methodology to efficiently compute these currents, to estimate the altered electromagnetic field distribution in the bio-logical tissues and to assess the consequent biological effects is proposed for low or medium frequency fields.Methods: The proposed methodology is based on decoupling the handling of the filamentary wire and the anatomical body. To do this, a circuital solution is adopted to study the metallic filamentary implant and this solution is inserted in the electromagnetic field solution involving the biological tissues. The Joule losses computed in the implant are then used as a forcing term for the thermal problem defined by the bioheat Pennes' equation. The methodology is validated against a model problem, where a reference solution is available.Results: The proposed simplified methodology is proved to be in good agreement with solutions provided by alternative approaches. In particular, errors in the amplitude of the currents induced in the wires re-sult to be always lower than 3%. After the validation, the methodology is applied to check the interactions between the magnetic field generated by different biomedical devices and a skull grid, which represents a complex filamentary wire implant.Conclusions: The proposed simplified methodology, suitable to be applied to closed loop wires in the low to intermediate frequency range, is found to be sufficiently accurate and easy to apply in realistic exposure scenarios. This modeling tool allows analyzing different types of small implants, from coronary and biliary duct stents to orthopedic grids, under a variety of exposure scenarios.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Evaluation of the Electric Field Induced in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Operators

partially_open4This paper aims at investigating the exposure experienced by the nursing staff executing transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMSs) and proposing a shielding system composed of an aluminum half cylinder placed around the coil. The analysis is carried out through a finite-element approach, using the Duke (Virtual Family) anatomical model to represent the operator body. The TMS apparatus, a spiral circular coil supplied by a short-duration sinusoidal current of ~6 kA, has been analyzed with and without shield. The 60 relative positions of the coil with respect to the TMS operator body have been considered, involving distance, orientation angle, and vertical height. The results show that the operator exposure exceeds the basic restrictions suggested by the Guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, when the distance from the coil decreases below 64 cm, but the minimal distance is reduced to 38 cm by the conductive shield. Moreover, the staff exposure reduces when the coil overlooks the operator head, while it worsens as the position of the coil descends at the height of shoulders and chest.partially_openBottauscio, Oriano; Zucca, Mauro; Chiampi, Mario; Zilberti, LucaBottauscio, Oriano; Zucca, Mauro; Chiampi, Mario; Zilberti, Luc