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Biomedical
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Textbook and Materials

Engineering John. G. Webster, Medical

instrumentation Application & Design, 4th
Edition, John Wiley & sons, 2009.
Leslie Cromwell, Fred J. Weibell and
Erich A. Pfeiffer, Biomedical
Instrumentation and Measurements, 2nd
Dr. K. Adalarasu Edition, PHI, 2008.
Office: VV233 Power Point Presentation
Email id : adalarasu@eie.sastra.edu

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Reference
R.S. Kandpur, Handbook of Biomedical
Instrumentation, 2nd Edition, Tata McGraw
Hill, 2003.
L.A. Geddes and L.E. Baker, Principles of Transducers and
Applied Biomedical Instrumentation, 3rd
Edition, John Wiley, 1989. Biomedical Measurement

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Inductive Transducers
 An inductance L can be used to measure
displacement by varying any three of the coil
parameters
 L = n2 G µ
Inductive Transducers  Where
n = number of turns of coil
G = geometric form factor
m = effective magnetic permeability of the medium

di
vL
dt
 Electromagnetic transducer are self generating active
transducers
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Inductive Transducers
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Inductive Transducers 8

Self-Inductance
 Each of these parameters can be changed by mechanical
means Changing the geometric form factor or the movement of a
magnetic core within the coil
 Types
 Self-inductance
The change in inductance for this device is not linearly
 Mutual Inductance
related to displacement
 Differential Transformer These devices have low power requirements and produce
large variations in inductance makes them attractive for
radiotelemetry applications

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Inductive Transducers 9
Inductive Sensors
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 Mutual-inductance  Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT)

 Employs two separate coils and uses the variation in their
mutual magnetic coupling to measure displacement
 Measures cardiac dimensions, monitoring infant
respiration, and ascertaining arterial diameters
 Measures changes in dimension of internal organs (kidney,
major blood vessels, and left ventricle)
 Widely used in physiological research and clinical
medicine to measure pressure, displacement, and force
 Composed of a primary coil (terminals a-b) and two
secondary coils (c-e and d-e) connected in series.
 The two secondary coils are connected in opposition in
order to achieve a wider region of linearity.

vo  vcd  vce  vde +

-
+
-

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LVDT LVDT
 The primary coil is sinusoidally excited, with a
frequency between 60 Hz and 20 kHz.
(a) As x moves through
 A change of phase by 180 degree when the core the null position, the
passes through the center position, and saturation on phase changes 180 ,
the ends while the magnitude of
vo is proportional to the
 Full-scale displacement of 0.1 to 250 mm magnitude of x. (b) An
 0.5-2 mV for a displacement of 0.01mm ordinary rectifier-
 Sensitivity is much higher than that for strain gages demodulator cannot
distinguish between (a)
 Disadvantage requires more complex signal and (b), so a phase-
processing sensitive demodulator is
required.

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Capacitive Sensors

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Capacitive Sensors Capacitive Sensors
 Capacitance between two parallel plates of area A  Method that is easiest to implement and that is most
separated by distance x is commonly used is to change the separation between
the plates
A
C   0 r  Sensitivity K of a capacitive sensor to changes in
0 = dielectric constant of free space x plate separation Δx is found by differentiating
r = relative dielectric constant of the insulator
A = area of each plate C A
x = distance between plates K    0 r 2
x x
 Sensitivity increases with increasing plate size and
Change output by changing r (substance flowing between plates),
A (slide plates relative to each other), or
decreasing distance
x.

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Capacitive Sensors Capacitive Sensors
 Equations: (Capacitance sensor for measuring
dynamic displacement changes)

 Typically, R is 1 MΩ or higher

or

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Forms of Capacitance Transducers Capacitive Sensors
Characteristics of capacitive sensors
High resolution (<0.1 nm)
Dynamic ranges up to 300 µm (reduced accuracy
at higher displacements)
High long term stability (<0.1 nm / 3 hours)
Rotary plate capacitor
Bandwidth: 20 to 3 kHz

Thin diaphragm

Rectilinear Capacitance Transducer

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Capacitive Sensors 21

 Advantages
 Has excellent frequency response
 Can measure both static and dynamic phenomena
 Simple to construct
 Inexpensive to produce
 Disadvantages Piezoelectric Sensors
 Sensitive to temperature variations
 Sensitive to the possibility of erratic or distortion signals
owing to long lead length
 Applications
 As frequency modulator in RF oscillator
 In capacitive microphone

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Piezoelectric Sensors
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Piezoelectric Sensors
 Used to measure physiological displacements and
record heart sounds.
Uses of Piezoelectric
 Principle External (body surface) and internal
 Piezoelectric materials generate an electric potential (intracardiac) phonocardiography
when mechanically strained
Detection of Korotkoff sounds in blood-
 Conversely an electric potential can cause physical
deformation of the material
pressure measurements
 When an asymmetrical crystal lattice is distorted Measurements of physiological
 A charge reorientation takes place accelerations
 Causing a relative displacement of negative and positive
charges
Provide an estimate of energy expenditure
 Displaced internal charges induce surface charges of by measuring acceleration due to human
opposite polarity on opposite sides of the crystal movement.
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Piezoelectric Sensors Piezoelectric Sensors
 Surface charge can be determined by measuring  Total induced charge q is directly proportional to the
the difference in voltage between electrodes applied force f
attached to the surfaces
 where k is the piezoelectric constant, C/N
 Change in voltage can be found by assuming that
the system acts like a parallel-plate
Capacitor:
q kf kfx A
Vo    C   0 r
C C  0 r A x
For piezoelectric sensor of 1-cm2 area and 1-mm thickness with
an applied force due to a 10-g weight, the output voltage v is
0.23 mV for quartz crystal
14 mV for barium titanate crystal.
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Transfer Function of Piezoelectric Sensors Transfer Function of Piezoelectric Sensors
Convert charge generator to current generator:
 View piezoelectric crystal as a charge generator dq dx
q  Kx is  K
q  Kx
dt dt
K  proportionality constant is  ic  iR
x  deflection ic  is i R Ra

 dV  dx Vo
Rs: sensor leakage resistance C o   K 
Cs: sensor capacitance  dt  dt R
Cc: cable capacitance
Ca: amplifier input capacitance Vo  j  K s j

Ra: amplifier input resistance X  j  j  1 Current
Ra

Ks = K/C, sensitivity, V/m

 = RC, time constant
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Piezoelectric Sensors
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Piezoelectric Sensors 30

Voltage-output response of a piezoelectric sensor to a step  Output decays exponentially because

displacement x.
 The finite internal resistance of the piezoelectric
Decay due to the finite material
internal resistance of the PZT
 At time equal to T the force is released, and a
displacement restoration results that is equal
and opposite to the original displacement
q  VC  Kx  This causes a sudden decrease in voltage of
Kx magnitude Kx/ C
V0   With a resulting undershoot equal to the decay prior
C
to the release of the displacement

The decay and undershoot can be minimized by increasing the time

constant  =RC.
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Piezoelectric Sensors
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High Frequency Equivalent Circuit 32

Vo  j  K s j
 Decay and undershoot can be minimized by 
X  j  j  1
increasing the time const, t = RC Rs

 Simplest approach to increasing t is to add a

parallel capacitor

1
f c ,low 
2 RC

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Problem
 A piezoelectric sensor has C = 500 pF. The sensor
leakage resistance is 10 GΩ. The amplifier input
impedance is 5 MΩ. What is the low corner
frequency for 5 MΩ and 500 MΩ ?
Photoelectric Transducers

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Photoelectric Transducers
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Photoelectric Transducers 36

A photoelectric transducer can be categorized Photovoltaic cells

Photoemissive Generate an output voltage proportional to
Photoconductive radiation intensity
or Photovoltaic Incident radiation may be infrared,
Photoemissive devices ultraviolet, gamma rays, or X rays as well as
Radiation falling on a cathode causes electrons to visible light.
be emitted from the cathode surface
Photoconductive devices
Resistance of a material is changed when it is
illuminated

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Photoelectric Transducers Photoemissive Sensors

 Photoemissive sensors (exp. Phototube) have
 Quantum sensors absorb energy from individual
photocathodes coated with alkali metals
photons and use it to release electrons from the Sufficient
sensor material energy
Forces that
Emits
photocathode electrons
 Typical quantum sensors are the eye, the phototube, Photons bind electrons
the photodiode, and photographic emulsion.
 Such sensors are sensitive over only a restricted  Photomultiplier
band of wavelengths; most respond rapidly.  is a phototube combined with an electron multiplier
 Changes in ambient temperature cause only a  Each accelerated electron hits the first dynode with enough
second-order change in sensitivity of these sensors. energy to liberate several electrons by secondary emission
 Dynode
 An intermediate electrode which emits additional electrons
in a photomultiplier or similar amplifying device
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Photoemissive Sensors
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Photojunction Sensors 40

 Photomultiplier  Photojunction sensors are formed from p-n junctions

 These electrons are accelerated to the second dynode,
and are usually made of silicon
where the process is repeated  If a photon has enough energy to jump the band gap
 Time response is less than 10 ns and are the most  hole-electron pairs are produced that modify the junction
sensitive photodetectors characteristics
 Photodiode - With reverse biasing
 Reverse photocurrent increases linearly with an increase in
radiation
 Phototransistor
 Radiation generate base current which result in the
generation of a large current flow from collector to emitter

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Photojunction Sensors Photovoltaic Sensors
 Same silicon p-n junction can be used in the
photovoltaic mode
 There is an open-circuit voltage when the junction
receives radiation.
 Voltage rises logarithmically from 100 to 500 mV as
the input radiation increases by a factor of 10000
 This is the principle of the solar cell that is used for
direct conversion of the sun's radiation into electric
power
Figure 2.22 Voltage-current characteristics of irradiated silicon p-n
junction. For 0 irradiance, both forward and reverse characteristics are
normal. For 1 mW/cm2, open-circuit voltage is 500 mV and short-circuit current
is 8 mA.
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Photovoltaic Sensors
Photoresistors

log10 R     log10 P
104
R 103
102
101
Figure 2.18 Spectral characteristics of detectors, (c) Detectors. The S4 response is
a typical phototube response. The eye has a relatively narrow response, with colors 101 102 103 104 Symbol
indicated by VBGYOR. CdS plus a filter has a response that closely matches that of Relative illumination (P)
the eye. Si p-n junctions are widely used. PbS is a sensitive infrared detector. InSb
is useful in far infrared. Note: These are only relative responses. Peak responses of
different detectors differ by 107.

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