Paper 1
Paper 1
Paper 1
net/publication/305368600
Designing of a single arm single lead ECG system for wet and dry electrode: A
comparison with traditional system
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ABSTRACT
Electrocardiography is a non-invasive medical diagnostic procedure used to record the electrical activity of the heart as
a waveform. An electrocardiogram (ECG) can be utilized to evaluate the electrical activity of the heart, also the rate
and regularity of the heart beat and other related diagnoses. ECG systems have evolved along since its invention and
researches are going on continuously to decrease the complexity of ECG systems. This paper discusses the designing of
a single arm single lead ECG system to acquire ECG signals from areas of left arm alone. The proposed system uses pre-
gelled disposable surface electrodes and dry copper electrodes. The single arm approach in ECG acquisition reduces the
complexity of the system to a greater extent and also improves the ease of use and patient comfort. The paper discusses
the various designing aspects and the working of the single arm single lead ECG system. A hardware only approach has
been used here in the design of the ECG system. ECGs were obtained from 10 healthy subjects using the proposed
system, which were compared along with ECG acquired from a commercially used system. The obtained ECG had
morphological features similar to a normal ECG waveform. The results of the comparison were very promising and all
the values recorded were in the normal range of values for the respective parameters in comparison.
Keywords: Electrocardiogram; Single lead; Hardware; Left arm; Wet electrode; Dry electrode.
*Corresponding author: Gautham A, M.Tech Biomedical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, SRM University,
Kattankulathur, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu 603203, India.
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Gautham A. & Karthik Raj V.
Fig. 2 General block diagram of single arm single lead ECG system.
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Designing of a Single Arm Single Lead ECG System for Wet and Dry Electrode
Fig. 3 Detailed block diagram of single arm single lead ECG system.
instrumentation ampli¯er are given from the output of High pass ¯lter
voltage follower at the previous stage, represented in
A high-pass ¯lter only allows frequencies above its cuto®
Fig. 5 as V2. The required gain (G) here is þ100,
frequency to pass through it. The high-pass ¯lter serves
49:400 the circuit by removing baseline wander and blocking
G¼1þ : ð1Þ
Rg noises due to motion artifacts.14 The input to the high-
pass ¯lter is obtained from the instrumentation ampli¯er
The required gain (G) here is þ100. Therefore from output, represented in Fig. 6 as V3. A second order ac-
Eq. (1), we get Rg ¼ 498:98 500 . tive Butterworth high pass ¯lter has been used in the
circuit, with cuto® frequency at 2 Hz.
The gain of a second order Butterworth high pass
¯lter is given as Av ¼ 1:586.
R2
Av ¼ 1 þ : ð2Þ
R1
From Eq. (2), assuming R1 ¼ 22 K, we get R2 as
13 K. The cuto® frequency of the Butterworth high
pass ¯lter is given as Eq. (3)
1
Fig. 4 Circuit diagram for voltage follower. Fc ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi : ð3Þ
2 R3 R4 C 1 C 2
Fig. 5 Circuit diagram for instrumentation ampli¯er. Fig. 6 Circuit diagram of second order Butterworth high pass ¯lter.
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Gautham A. & Karthik Raj V.
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Designing of a Single Arm Single Lead ECG System for Wet and Dry Electrode
Fig. 9 Circuit diagram of non-inverting ampli¯er. Fig. 10 Single arm single lead ECG circuit on NI ELVIS board.
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Gautham A. & Karthik Raj V.
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Designing of a Single Arm Single Lead ECG System for Wet and Dry Electrode
Fig. 14 Printed circuit board for the single arm single lead ECG
system.
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Gautham A. & Karthik Raj V.
Fig. 15 ECG output from ¯rst placement con¯guration of electrodes using pre-gelled disposable surface electrodes (REF A).
Fig. 16 ECG output from second placement con¯guration of electrodes using pre-gelled disposable surface electrodes (REF B).
Fig. 17 ECG output from ¯rst placement con¯guration of electrodes using dry copper electrodes (REF A).
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Designing of a Single Arm Single Lead ECG System for Wet and Dry Electrode
Fig. 18 ECG output from second placement con¯guration of electrodes using dry copper electrodes (REF B).
100 1200
RR Means (ms)
Heart rate (BPM)
80 1000
60 800
DRY REF B 600 DRY REF B
40 400
DRY REF A DRY REF A
20 200
0 WET REF B 0 WET REF B
subject 1
subject 2
subject 3
subject 4
subject 5
subject 6
subject 9
subject 1
subject 2
subject 3
subject 4
subject 5
subject 6
subject 9
subject 10
subject 10
subject 7
subject 8
subject 7
subject 8
WET REF A WET REF A
RMS RMS
Subjects Subjects
Fig. 19 Comparison bar chart for heart rates. Fig. 22 Comparison bar chart for RR means.
180 500
160
QT Interval (ms)
PR Interval (ms)
140 400
120
100 300 DRY REF B
DRY REF B
80 200
60 DRY REF A DRY REF A
40 100
20 WET REF B WET REF B
0
0
subject 1
subject 2
subject 3
subject 4
subject 5
subject 6
subject 9
subject 10
subject 10
subject 7
subject 8
subject 9
RMS RMS
Subjects
Subjects
Fig. 23 Comparison bar chart for QT intervals.
Fig. 20 Comparison bar chat for PR intervals.
140
QRS WIDTH (ms)
120 DISCUSSIONS
100
80 DRY REF B
60 Stable and clean ECG waveforms were successfully ac-
40 DRY REF A quired using the designed system from 10 subjects on
20
0 WET REF B di®erent placement con¯gurations of electrodes. Precise
subject 1
subject 2
subject 3
subject 4
subject 5
subject 6
subject 9
subject 10
subject 7
subject 8
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Gautham A. & Karthik Raj V.
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