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MAKE YOUR OWN ELECTROCARDIOGRAM (ECG)

By JasonU14 (/member/JasonU14/) in Technology (/technology/) > Gadgets (/technology/gadgets/)
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Intro: Make Your Own Electrocardiogram (ECG)

NOTICE:

This is not a medical device. This is for educational purposes only, using simulated
signals. If using this circuit for real ECG measurements, please ensure the circuit and
the circuit-to-instrument connections are utilizing battery power and other proper
isolation techniques.

[Image taken from https://scienceprog.com/avr-dds-signal-generator-v...

(https://scienceprog.com/avr-dds-signal-generator-v20/)]

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Step 1: Know Your Stuff

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important tool used by physicians to monitor the

electrical activity of the heart. It’s useful in capturing everything from abnormal heart
rhythms to diagnosing heat failure. By following this Instructable, you will be able to
build a device that displays the electrocardiogram of a person using only basic
breadboarding skills, and general electronics lab equipment. Once you have good
signal output, you could use this same signal to calculate heartrate, or another
interesting metric using a microcontroller.
-

If you don’t know what an ECG is, it is simply a recording of the heart’s activity. Due
to the electrical nature of the heart’s contractions, one can record the change in
voltage by placing electrodes on the skin and processing the signal. The plot of these
voltages over time is called an electrocardiogram (ECG for short). ECGs are typically
used to diagnose various forms of heart failure, or passively monitor patient stress. A
healthy ECG has speci c features that are universal between humans. (This includes
a P-wave, Q-wave, R-wave, S-wave, T-wave, and a QRS complex.) I've provided a
simpli ed diagram of an ECG with the corresponding reaction of the heart.

Note that each electrical event occurring in the heart’s nerves corresponds to a
physical event that occurs consequently in the muscle tissue, and while one part of
the heart is contracting, the other portions are relaxing. In this way, the timing of
electrical signals is very important in the heart, which makes an ECG a very powerful
tool in measuring heart health.

For us to record an actual ECG however, many logistical issues come into play such
as the size of the signal, the amount of noise coming from the rest of the body, and
the amount of noise coming from the environment. To compensate for this, we are
designing a circuit that will be composed of 3 parts: a differential ampli er to
increase the size of our signal, a low pass lter to eliminate high frequency signals
noise, and a notch lter to remove 60 Hz noise that is always present in buildings
supplied with AC power. I will describe watch of these steps in detail to you below.

[Image taken from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ap2/chapter/card...

(https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ap2/chapter/cardiac-cycle/)]

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 Step 2: Gather Your Supplies
For this project you will need:

- 1 large breadboard (having 2 or more will be nicer though)

- 5 general purpose op-amps

(I used the UA741 with +-15 V, just make sure that ones you choose can handle 15
volts otherwise you will need to adjust the values of your passive components and
you’ll have to settle for less ampli cation)

- Resistors

o 2x 165 ohm

o 3x 1k ohm

o 2x 15k ohm

o 2x 33k ohm

o 1x 42k ohm

o 2x 60k ohm

- Capacitors

o 2x 22nF

o 2x 1μF
o 1x 2Μf

- A plethora or jumper wires

- A DC voltage source capable of providing +-15 V

- A function generator and oscilloscope (mainly for troubleshooting)

- At least three sticky electrodes if you plan on recording an actual ECG

- Enough cables to connect all this nonsense

- A rm understanding of circuits, op-amps, and experience with breadboarding.

If you just got a breadboard for your birthday and are looking to try make something
cool with it, do at least a few simpler builds before you try this out.

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Step 3: Build the Differential Amplifier

The differential ampli er is what will amplify our recorded signal to a usable level to
be displayed on a scope or a screen. This circuit design will take the difference in
voltage from the two input electrodes and amplify it. This is done to reduce noise, as
common noise between the electrodes will be eliminated. ECG signal will vary in
amplitude depending on the placement of the recording electrodes and the
individual, but are typically on the order a few millivolts when recording from the
wrists. (While it is not necessary for this setup, signal amplitude can be increased by
placing electrodes on the chest, but the trade-off is noise from lung movement.)

I've included a schematic of the setup. The circuit in the picture should amplify your
signal ~1000 fold. You may need to adjust this depending on the type of op-amp
you decided to use. A quick way to adjust this is by changing the value of R1. By
cutting the value of R1 in half, you will double the output gain and vice versa.

I assume that most of you can translate this circuit onto the breadboard, nonetheless
I’ve included a diagram of the breadboard setup to streamline the process and
hopefully reduce your troubleshooting time. I’ve also included a picture of the UA741
(or LM741) pinout for your convenience. (for your purposes you won’t need pins 1,5,
or 8) The V+ and V- pins on the op-amp will be connected to your +15 V and -15 V
supply respectively. -15V is not the same as ground! You can ignore the capacitors
on my breadboard. They are bypass capacitors meant to remove AC noise, but in
retrospect weren’t worth the effort.

I recommend testing each stage as you complete it to troubleshoot. As the circuit

shows, you can connect one of the inputs to ground, and the other to a small DC
source to check ampli cation. (make sure you input <15 mV otherwise you’ll
saturate the op-amps). If you need to reduce your gain for testing, don’t sweat it,
anything above 500-fold gain will be plenty for our purposes. Moreover, if you built
your circuit to have a gain of 1000 and it only shows a gain of 800, it isn’t the end of
the world, the exact number is non-critical.

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Step 4: Build the Notch Filter

Now that we can amplify our signal, let’s look at cleaning it up. If you hooked up
electrodes to our circuit right now, it would likely have a ton of 60 Hz noise. That
because most buildings are wired with 60 Hz AC current causing inevitably large
noise signals. To remedy this, we will build a 60 Hz notch lter. A notch lter is
designed to attenuate very speci c frequencies and leave other frequencies
untouched; perfect for getting rid of 60 Hz noise.

-
As before, I’ve included a picture of the circuit schematic, breadboard setup, and my
own circuit. As a note, while the notch lter is a relatively easy stage to build, it took
the longest for me to get working. My input was being attenuated well, but at 63 Hz
instead of 60 Hz, which won’t cut it. If you run into the same problem, I recommend
that you change your value of R14. (Increasing resistance of R14 will lower your
attenuation frequency and vice versa). If you have a variable resistor box, use it to
replace R14, then toy with resistance values to nd out exactly what works best, as
it will be sensitive to changes in on the order of single ohm. I ended up with a 175
ohm R14, but in theory it works best to match R12.

Again, you can test this stage by using a function generator to input a 60 Hz sine
wave and record your output on an oscilloscope. Your output should be about -20
dB or 10% the amplitude of the input. As I said before, you can check nearby
frequencies for optimization.

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Step 5: Build the Low-Pass Filter

As mentioned before, another important factor is reducing noise from your body and
whatever else that’s zapping the room you’re in. A low pass lter is good at doing
this because, as far as signals go, your heartbeat is pretty slow. Our goal with the
low-pass lter is to eliminate all signals that contain frequencies higher than your
ECG. To do this we need to do designate a “cutoff frequency”. In our case, everything
above this frequency we want to eliminate, and everything below this frequency we
want to keep. While a heartbeat is occurring on the order of 1 to 3 Hertz, the
individual waveforms that make up our ECG are made up of frequencies much
higher than this; near 1 to 50 Hertz. Because of this, I chose a cutoff frequency of 80
Hz. Its high enough to keep all the useful components in the signal, but still cuts out
the noise from the HAM radio you have in the next room.

I don’t have any sage advice on the low-pass lter, it’s very simple compared to the
other stages. Similarly to the ampli er, don’t worry about getting a precise cutoff at
80 Hz; this is not crucial and won’t realistically happen. Nonetheless, you should
check its output by using a function generator. As a rule of thumb, a sine wave
should go through the lter untouched at 10 Hz, and should be cut in half by 130
Hz.

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Step 6: Hook It Up!

If you’ve made is this far, congrats! You have all the components of an ECG. All that
you need to do in is connect them together, slap on the electrodes, and hook the
output to the oscilloscope to see your ECG!

In case you are unsure of how to put on electrodes, I recommend sticking the input
electrodes on your wrists (one on each wrist) and connecting a ground electrode to
your leg (the picture may help.) As a reminder, each input electrode should go a
positive input on the op-amps in the ampli er. (It is only grounded in the circuit
diagram for simulation purposes)

Once you're connected, hook up theoutput of the low-pass lter to an oscilloscope

and be proud of yourself! Make all your kids come put on electrodes and look at their
heartbeats. Heck, make your neighbors come try it out. If you’re feeling extra
motivated hook up the output to a microcontroller to calculate heart rate from the
single. (You probably want to lower the ampli cation before you do this, it may fry
the board you’re using). Regardless, congrats on the build, and happy making!

[Image taken from https://www.medicwiz.com/medtech/diagnostics/10-ty...

(https://www.medicwiz.com/medtech/diagnostics/10-types-of-ecg-devices-for-
heart-rhythm-monitoring)]

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(/member/SharanyaS6/) SharanyaS6 (/member/SharanyaS6/) Question 17 days ago on Step 3

Hey! Can you please explain how the differential amplifier has a gain of 1000? I seem to be
getting a value much much higher than this when I calculated it.

Answer / Upvote

(/member/ohoilett/) ohoilett (/member/ohoilett/) 9 months ago

Ay! Congrats on your first Instructable!

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