Heart Current in an Anatomically Realistic Human Model due to Contact with a Low-Frequency Energized Source

Distributions of 60 Hz contact current around and inside the heart of the anatomically realistic human body are demonstrated under four scenarios: left hand to both feet, fight hand to both feet, hand to hand, and foot to foot. The heart-current ratios and the heart-current factors are calculated. The new numerical method which is partly modified from the conventional scalar potential finite difference (SPFD) method is proposed. It is found that a part of similar to 33-40% of the total contact current passes through the heart in three scenarios of one hand to either the other hand or feet, and these heart-current ratios are much larger than the ones reported by Freiberger. Furthermore, the heart-current factor is almost the same as the one in IEC 60479-1 for the right-hand-to-feet path, but is twice as much as the one in IEC 60479-1 for the hand-to-hand path. (C) 2009 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.