Assignment (SpO2 and other equipment)

MEng. Alicia Carabali

Biomedical Instrumentation
June 18, 2017

1. Beers law for light absorption states that transmitted light intensity, I,
through a sample is related to incident intensity Io, by I = I0 ∗ 10−cl ,
where  is the absorption coefficient, c is the concentration of absorber in
the sample and l is the path length. Absorption is defined as log10 (Io/I) =
cl. For n absorbers in a sample, absorption = n cn l.
Use Beer-Lamberts law to derive the following relationship between red/infra-
red absorption ratio (β) detected by the pulse oximeter, and the oxygen
saturation value (SpO2 ):

1r − β2r
Sp02 =
1r − 1o + β(2o − 2r )

Where 1r refers to the absorption coefficient of reduced hemoglobin at

wavelength 1(red), 2o refers to the absorption coefficient of oxy-hemoglobin
at wavelength 2 (infrared), etc.
2. Look for a the circuitry of an pulse oximeter and explain each one of its
blocks.
3. Explain how and when the calibration of a pulse oximeter is done.
4. Research question: What effect if any might heavy smoking or living in a
high pollution atmosphere have on a pulse oximeter reading? How might
you redesign a pulse oximeter that would be accurate in these conditions?.

5. Research question: What effect if any might anemia have on a pulse oxime-
ter reading?

6. Explain the transthoracic impedance method for measuring respiration.

7. Research the prices in the Ecuadorian market for : a Neonatal incubator,
Patient monitor equipment, Pulse oximeter and a Electrocardiography
equipment.