Numerical assessment of induced electric field strengths in detailed anatomical body models during conductive charging of electric vehicles

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Pia Schneeweiss¹, Rene Hirtl¹, Gernot Schmid¹, Johannes Kainz^1,2, Sarah Driessen², Luis Kalb³, Dino Silvestro³, Matthias Vogt^{3
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1} ​​​​​​​Seibersdorf Labor GmbH
² Uniklinik RWTH Aachen
³ ADAC Technik Zentrum

Poster-Abstract

Recent systematic measurements carried out with a variety of different conductive charging stations and electric vehicles suggest that the EC recommendation 1999/519/EC and ICNIRP 2010 reference levels may be substantially exceeded locally and temporarily in accessible areas during AC charging due to transient magnetic fields in the initial phase of charging (typically in the time interval 2 - 5 seconds after the start of charging).

In particular, magnetic flux densities exceeding the EC recommendation 1999/519/EC reference levels for the general public by a factor of 2.1 were measured in the driver’s feet area, and by a factor of up to 17.4 along the charging cable and at the surface of the charging plug (corresponding to a factor of 3.6 above the ICNIRP 2010 reference levels for the general public). Therefore, we performed numerical computations using high-resolution anatomical body models to estimate the resulting exposure in terms of induced electric field strengths and current densities in the body for reasonably foreseeable exposure conditions.

Our results show that the corresponding basic restrictions for foreseeable exposure conditions during conductive charging of electric vehicles are met, even though the reference levels may be exceeded locally.