Textbook

Medical Instrumentation
Application and Design 4th
By John G. Webster
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The sensor is an essential component of medical instrumentations

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Transducer, Sensor, and Actuator

 Transducer:
A device that converts energy from one form to another.
Example of Energy: electrical, mechanical, chemical, thermal, optical,
electromagnetic and others

 Sensor:
A device that converts a physical parameter to an electrical output (a type
of transducer)
Example: digital thermometer

 Actuator:
A device that converts an electrical signal to a physical output (opposite of
a sensor)
Example: heater
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Type of Sensors

 Displacement Sensors:
 Resistance, inductance, capacitance, Piezoelectric

 Temperature Sensors:
 Thermistors, thermocouples

 Electromagnetic radiation Sensors:

 Thermal and photon detectors
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Displacement Measurements

 The physician and biomedical researcher are interested in measuring the

parameters of the organs and tissues of the body.

 Variations in these parameters are important in discriminating normal from

abnormal function

 Displacement sensors can be used in both types of measurements.

 Direct
 indirect systems
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Displacement Measurements

Direct Method

 Direct measurements of the

displacement are used to determine:

 blood pressure

 The change in diameter of blood

vessels

 The changes in volume

 The shape of cardiac chambers.

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Displacement Measurements

Indirect Method

 Indirect measurements of displacement

are used to quantify movements of
liquids through heart valves.

 An example is the movement of a

microphone diaphragm that detects
the movement of the heart indirectly
and the resulting heart murmurs.
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Displacement measurement

 Dimensional Changes May Be Measured By Variations In

 Resistance

 Inductance

 Capacitance

 Piezoelectric Effect
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Resistive Sensors
Potentiometer
 A potentiometer is a manually adjustable variable
resistor with 3 terminals. Two terminals are
connected to both ends of a resistive element,
and the third terminal is connected to a sliding
contact, called a wiper, moving over the resistive
element.

 The position of the wiper determines the output

voltage of the potentiometer.
DV = I DR

 It produces linear output in response to displacement.

 Resolution is a function of construction.

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Resistive Sensors
Potentiometer

Translation Rotational
Displacement Displacement
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Resistive Sensors
Potentiometer

Translation Rotational
Displacement Displacement
Single-turn
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Resistive Sensors
Potentiometer

Translation Rotational Rotational

Displacement Displacement Displacement
Single-turn Multi-turn
* Multi-turn pots are used where high precision and resolution is required
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Resistive Sensors

Resistive sensors usually respond to a linear or angular

displacement with a linearly proportional output voltage
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Resistive Sensors

Rotary Potentiometer
The figure shows the rotary potentiometer. The changed resistance of the rotary
potentiometer with respect to angular displacement is mathematically represented
as,
 R
RPB   max AB 
  min 

RPB = Resistance between P and B,
RAB = Resistance between A and B,
qmax = Maximum angular displacement of potentiometer
qmin = Minimum angular displacement of potentiometer.
The output voltage (VPB) at the potentiometer output is
given by,
VPB = (RPB/RAB) × VCC,
VPB = Voltage between points P and B
V = V = DC supply voltage across the potentiometer.
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Rotary Potentiometer
Example:
A potentiometer is placed inside a robotic arm’s joint. qmin = 30˚ and qmax = 180˚.
RAB =1500 Ω. VCC = 5V. If you measure 3V at the PB terminals. What is the arm angle?
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Inductive Sensors

 An inductive sensor is a device that uses the principle of electromagnetic

induction to detect or measure objects.
 An inductor develops a magnetic field when a current flows through it
 A current will flow through a circuit containing an inductor when the
magnetic field through it changes.
 This effect can be used to detect metallic objects that interact with a
magnetic field.
 Non-metallic substances such as liquids or some kinds of dirt do not interact
with the magnetic field, so an inductive sensor can operate in wet or dirty
conditions.
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Inductive Sensors

 An Inductive sensor is used to measure position.

 They are usually used within harsh environments as they are generally
robust and can deliver stable signals even in hostile environments.

 They use a contactless principle which gives them longer life and makes
them highly reliable.
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Inductive Sensors

 An inductive sensor is an electronic device that can detect ferrous metal

targets without physical contact.

 Inductive sensors will also detect non-ferrous metal targets like aluminum,
brass, and copper. But using non-ferrous metal targets decreases an inductive
sensor’s sensing range.
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Inductive Sensors

 The sensing range of an

inductive sensor is the distance
from the sensor’s face to the
maximum distance the sensor
can detect a metal target.

 The sensing distance can be

found on the sensor’s datasheet.
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Inductive Sensors

 The datasheet will also show some correction factors when you want to detect
a non-ferrous metal.

 Non-ferrous metal is a type of metal that does not have a significant amount of
iron in it. Brass, aluminum, and copper are examples of non-ferrous metals.
This means that these metals do not have a significant amount of iron within
them.

 If the object is a non-ferrous metal, you need to consider a simple correction

factor when defining the sensing distance.
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Inductive Sensors

Factors Affecting Inductance

 Number of Turns in the Coil

 Coil Area
 Coil Length
 Core Material
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Factors Affecting Inductance

 Number of Turns in the Coil

 Greater number of turns results in more inductance

 Fewer number of turns results in less inductance

 Inductive Sensors

Factors Affecting Inductance

 Coil Area

 Greater coil area results in more inductance

 Less coil area results in less inductance

 Inductive Sensors
Factors Affecting Inductance

 Coil Length

 Longer coil length results in less inductance

 Shorter coil length results in more inductance

 Inductive Sensors
Factors Affecting Inductance

 Core Material

 Greater magnetic permeability of the core results in more inductance

 Less permeability of the core results in less inductance

 Inductive Sensors

Permeability
 Magnetic permeability is a property that basically allows magnetic flux to pass through
a material.

 In other words, the magnetic permeability of a material can also be said to be its
magnetization capability.

 Or, it is a measure of the degree to which magnetic field can penetrate through a
material.

 It is a scalar quantity and denoted by the symbol (μ).

 Magnetic permeability helps us to measure a material’s resistance to the magnetic field

 If the material has greater magnetic permeability, greater will be the conductivity for
magnetic lines of flux.
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Inductive Sensors

 Displacement is related to the variation of inductance.

 Usually the inductor is part of an electric/electronic circuit and the voltage or

current output signal is processed to obtain the displacement value.

 An inductive sensor has an advantage in not being affected by the dielectric

properties of its environment. However, it may be affected by external
magnetic field due to the proximity of magnetic materials.
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Inductive Sensors

The principle of operation of the inductive displacement transducer

depends on the variation of the self-inductance (L) of an inductor
or the mutual inductance (M) of two inductors
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Inductive Sensors

Types of Inductive Sensors

 Self Inductance sensor

 Mutual Inductance sensor

 Linear variable differential transformer sensor

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Inductive Sensors

Self Inductance sensor

 It is a variable inductance method employing a

single displaceable core.

 This device works on the principle that alteration

in the self inductance of a coil may be produced by
changing the geometric form factor (Movement of
a magnetic core within the coil)
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Inductive Sensors

Self Inductance sensor

 The inductance modification occurs because the

displacement x changes

 the coil geometry

 the permeability (or reluctance) due to core

displacement

 the air gap variation

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Inductive Sensors

Mutual Inductance sensor

x
 The mutual inductance sensors employs two
separate coils and use the variation in their
mutual magnetic coupling to measure
displacement. x
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Inductive Sensors

Mutual Inductance sensor

 The inductance modification occurs because

the displacement x modifies the mutual x
magnetic coupling between inductors by
changing

 the position of a common core

x

 the distance between the coils.

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Inductive Sensors

Mutual Inductance sensor

When a coil is placed near a coil carrying

alternating current, a circulating current is x
induced in it.

This current, in turn, produces its own flux

x
which try to reduce the flux of the coil carrying
the current and hence inductance of the coil
gets changed.
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Inductive Sensors

Mutual Inductance sensor

If a plate is put near a coil carrying alternating

current, an eddy current is induced in that plate.

Nearer the plate is, higher will be the eddy

current and higher is the reduction in
inductance and vice versa.

 Thus inductance of the coil varied with the variation of distance between coil
and plate.

The movement of the plate can be calibrated in terms of inductance change to

measure a quantity like displacement.
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Inductive Sensors

Mutual Inductance sensor

An inductive sensor probe consists of an oscillator

that generates a high frequency electromagnetic
field. This field is radiated from the sensing face
of the probe.

When this field contacts a conducting metal target,

a small current is induced within the metal target.
These currents will generate their own electromagnetic field that interferes with
the field originating from the probe. This causes a change in the amplitude of the
oscillations of the signals from the probe.
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Inductive Sensors
Mutual Inductance sensor
As the target approaches the sensor head,
the eddy current increases and oscillation
amplitude becomes smaller accordingly. This
oscillation amplitude is rectified to obtain DC
voltage variations.
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Inductive Sensors

Mutual Inductance sensor

The rectified signal and distance have an approximate proportional relationship.

The linearization circuit corrects the linearity to obtain a linear output that is
proportional to the distance.
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Inductive Sensors

 Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT)

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Inductive Sensors

 Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT)

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Inductive Sensors

 Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT)

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Inductive Sensors

 Linear variable
differential
transformer
(LVDT)
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Inductive Sensors

Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT)

 The linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) is widely used in
physiological research and clinical medicine to measure pressure,
displacement, and force.

 Primary coil (terminals a-b) and two secondary coils

(c-e and d-e) connected in series.

 The coupling between these two coils is changed by

the motion of a high permeability alloy slug
between them.

 The two secondary coils are connected in opposition

in order to achieve a wider region of linearity.

 Primary coil is sinusoidally excited, with a frequency

between 50 Hz and 20 kHz.
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Capacitive Sensors
 The capacitance between two parallel
plates of area A separated
by a distance x is:

ε0 = dielectric constant of free space

εr = relative dielectric constant of the insulator

 In principle it is possible to measure the change in

displacement by changing 3 parameters; ε r , A or x.

 The most commonly used method is to change the

separation between the plates.

 Displacement is commonly sensed with a capacitor by

measuring capacitance changes as the plate separation is
changed.
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Capacitive Sensors

The sensitivity K of a capacitive sensor to changes in plate separation x is found

by differentiating

Resulting in

Thus, K is given by

The percent change in C about any neutral point is equal to the per-unit change in
x for small displacements. Or
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Capacitive Sensors
Example:
For a 1 cm2 capacitance sensor, R is 100 MΩ. Calculate x, the plate spacing
required to pass sound frequencies above 20 Hz.

Answer:
ε0 = dielectric constant of free space = 8.854*10-12 F/m
εr = dielectric constant of air = 1.0 F/m

Note: The corner frequency is the cut-off frequency of a filter. It can be found using the
standard formula ƒc = 1/(2πRC)
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Capacitive Sensors
Example:
For a 1 cm2 capacitance sensor, R is 100 MΩ. Calculate x, the plate spacing
required to pass sound frequencies above 20 Hz.

Answer:
ε0 = dielectric constant of free space = 8.854*10-12 F/m
εr = dielectric constant of air = 1.0 F/m
From the corner frequency, C =1/2πfR=1/(2π20×100x106) = 1/(2π20×108) = 80 pF.
x can be calculated as follows:

x =1.11 x 10-5 = 11.1 mm

Note: The corner frequency is the cut-off frequency of a filter. It can be found using the
standard formula ƒc = 1/(2πRC)
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Capacitive Sensors

Electronic Blood Pressure Monitor Kit

(Capacitive Pressure Sensor)

 A parallel plates capacitor in which one metal plate is

fixed and the other plate is a thin, flexible diaphragm.

 The diaphragm is deformed with the variation of

arterial blood pressure by varying the distance between
the capacitor plates and thus the capacitance.

 The output voltage obtained is directly proportional to

the separation of the capacitor plates.

 This distance varies in a range of lower frequencies

(heartbeat) than that of the excitation frequency of the
circuit and is determined by demodulation and filtering.
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Capacitive Sensors

Another example of biomedical capacitive displacement transducer is the

measurement of the wall displacement of the heart or blood vessel, with similar

electronic circuit.
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Capacitive Sensors
Differential Capacitors

Two capacitors having a movable common

plate is called differential capacitor

In the Figure,
When the central plate moves upward, the
differential capacitances are
At balance, d2 = d3 = d
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Capacitive Sensors

Wheatstone bridge
If differential capacitors are used, then the Wheatstone bridge is the indicated
measuring circuit usually with one fixed capacitor (C 1), two variable capacitors of
the transducer (C2 and C3), and one adjustable capacitor (C4) used to balance the
bridge.
At the balance

The output voltage for a displacement x

is calculated as

Wheatstone bridge
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Capacitive Sensors

Wheatstone bridge
 The voltage drop in C4 is

Similarly, the voltage drop in C3 is

Then Vout is Wheatstone bridge

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Capacitive Sensors

Wheatstone bridge
In the balance, C4 is adjusted to be equal to
C1. Then

The above equation shows that the

output differential capacitive
transducer depends on the displacement
Wheatstone bridge
x