Cairo University Systems & Biomedical Engineering Dept.

Faculty of Engineering Ph.D. Program

Physiological Monitoring and Testing

Exercise Sheet (3)

1. Aresistance Wheatstone bridge blood pressure transducer has a sensitivity of

5 μV/mmHg. If the output scale factor is 10 mV/mmHg and the full-scale
pressure is 300 mmHg, calculate
a) the gain required of the dc amplifier used with this transducer
b) the full-scale output voltage

Solution:

1.a) The input signal amplitude to the amplifier is

Vi = Si·PFS = 5×300 = 1500 μV
The amplifier's output signal amplitude is given by:
Vo = So·PFS = 10×300 = 3000 mV = 3 V
Thus, the amplifier gain is given by:
𝑉 3000
𝐴 = 𝑉𝑜 = 1.5 = 2000 𝑉/𝑉
𝑖
b) The full-scale output is
Vo = 3 V

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2. Show that the gage factor of a strain gage transducer is given by:
∆𝑅/𝑅 ∆𝜌/𝜌
𝐺= = (1 + 2𝜇) +
∆𝐿/𝐿 ∆𝐿/𝐿

where
R = resistance of the strain gage element
L = strain gage element length
μ = Poisson's ration
ρ = density of strain gage element material
Solution:
𝜌𝐿
2. 𝑅=
𝐴
∆𝑅 ∆𝜌 ∆𝐿 ∆𝐴
∴ = + −
𝑅 𝜌 𝐿 𝐴

𝜋𝐷2
But 𝐴 =
4
∆𝐴 ∆𝐷
∴ =2
𝐴 𝐷
∆𝑅 ∆𝜌 ∆𝐿 ∆𝐷
∴ = + −2
𝑅 𝜌 𝐿 𝐷
∆𝑅/𝑅 ∆𝜌/𝜌
∴𝐺= = + 1 + 2𝜇
∆𝐿/𝐿 ∆𝐿/𝐿
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Draw the block diagram showing the basic elements required for an
automatic indirect system for the measurement of blood pressure.

Solution:
.

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4. An unbonded strain gage is connected to a Wheatstone bridge circuit. When

a certain pressure is applied to the dome, the resistance of Wires (B) & (C)
becomes 102.8 Ω, whereas of Wires (A) and (D) becomes 97.2 Ω. The battery
voltage is 12 V. The gage factor of the wires is 2.1. The gage sensitivity is 10
mV/mmHg. Calculate:
a) the resistance of the unstressed wire Ro
b) the tensile strain of Wires (B) or (C)
c) the bridge output voltage
d) the pressure indicated by the strain gage
Solution:
4.a) Ro + ΔR = 102.8 
Ro - ΔR = 97.2 
2Ro = 200  Ro = 100 

∆𝑅/𝑅
b) 𝐺=
∆𝐿/𝐿
∆𝑅 102.8 − 100
= = 0.028, 𝐺 = 2.1
𝑅 100
0.028 ∆𝐿 0.028
∴ 2.1 = ===> = = 0.0133
∆𝐿/𝐿 𝐿 2.1

∆𝑅
c) 𝑣𝑜 = 𝑣𝑏 = 0.028 × 12 = 0.336 𝑉 = 336 𝑚𝑉
𝑅

d) 𝑣𝑜 = 𝑆 ∙ 𝑃
 Thus, the indicated pressure is given by
𝑣𝑜 336
𝑃= = = 33.6 𝑚𝑚𝐻𝑔
𝑆 10

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5.a) A thermistor with a material constant β of 4500 K is used as a thermometer.

Calculate its resistance at 25°C. Assume that the resistance of this thermistor
at body temperature (37°C) is 85 Ω.
b) The resistance of a thermistor with β = 4000 K measured at 20°C is equal to
500 Ω. Find the temperature of the thermistor when the resistance is
doubled.
c) Calculate the β of a thermistor if it has a resistance of 3 kΩ at 22°C(room
temperature) and a resistance of 2.46 kΩ when the room temperature
increases to 28°C.

Solution:
𝛽(𝑇𝑜−𝑇)
5 𝑅𝑡 = 𝑅𝑜 𝑒 𝑇𝑇𝑜

.
a)  = 4500 K T = 298 K 𝑅𝑜 = 85  𝑇𝑜 = 310 𝐾
4500(310−298)
∴ 𝑅𝑡 = 85𝑒 310×298 = 152.5 

b)  = 4000 K 𝑇𝑜 = 293 𝐾 𝑅𝑡 = 2𝑅𝑜

4000(293−𝑇)
∴ 2𝑅𝑜 = 𝑅𝑜 𝑒 293𝑇
4000(293 − 𝑇)
∴ ln 2 =
293𝑇
∴ 293𝑇 ∙ ln 2 = 203.1𝑇 = 4000(293 − 𝑇)
∴ 4203.1𝑇 = 4000 × 293
4000 × 293
∴𝑇= = 278.8 𝐾 = 5.8℃
4203.1

c) T = 301 K 𝑅𝑜 = 3 𝐾 𝑇𝑜 = 295 𝐾 𝑅𝑡 = 2.46 𝐾

𝛽(295−301)
∴ 2.46 = 3𝑒 295×301

2.46 (−6)
∴ 𝑙𝑛 =𝛽
3 295 × 301
−295 × 301 2.46
∴𝛽= 𝑙𝑛 = 2937 𝐾
6 3
6. Estimate the linear range of the thermistor shown in Fig. 1 then determine
the sensitivity of each of the following (in V/°C).

a) the Si-sensor
b) the thermistor in the linear range

Fig. 1

Solution:

. The linear range for the thermistor shown is approximately (5°C, 45°C). The
sensitivity for

a) the Si-sensor is 10 mV/°C

b) the thermistor in the linear range is approximately -40 mV/°C

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7. For the LM35 temperature sensing circuit shown in Fig. 2

a) Explain the purpose of the capacitor C1.
b) Calculate the settling time of the sensor (about four time constants).
c) Calculate the gain of the amplifier connected to the temperature sensor pin,
if the full scale range of the circuit for this application is 0 to 50°C, and the
sensor sensitivity is 10 mV/°C.
d) What should be the minimum number of bits for the A/D converter
connected to the amplifier, if the temperature resolution should be 0.05°C?
 Fig. 2

Solution:

a) The role of the capacitor C1 is to protect the sensor from any possible
current surges.

b) The relaxation time constant of the circuit is given by:

τ = C1×R1 = 10-6×75 = 75 μs
Thus, the settling time of the sensor Tsettling = 4τ = 4×75 = 300 μs

c) The sensor output voltage, Vs is given by

Vs = S·θi
Where S is the sensor's sensitivity in V/°C and θi is the measured
temperature in °C.
But S = 10 mV/°C.
Thus for θi = 0°C, Vs = 0
For θi = 50°C, Vs = 10×50 = 500 mV
Thus, the full scale input voltage to the amplifier = 500 mV
But the full scale amplifier output voltage is Vcc = 5 V
So, if the amplifier gain is G, then
𝑉𝑜𝐹𝑆 𝑉𝑐𝑐 5 𝑉
𝐺= = = = 10
𝑉𝑖𝐹𝑆 𝑉𝑠 0.5 𝑉

a) Let a change in measured temperature given by Δθi produce a corresponding

change in amplifier output voltage given by ΔVo. ΔVo is defined as
ΔVo = G·S· Δθi = 10×10×0.05 = 5 mV

So, the voltage resolution at the output of the amplifier) the input of the
A/D converter) is 5 mV. Thus, if the A/D has N bits, then
𝑉𝑐𝑐 5
2𝑁 ≥ = = 1000
∆𝑉𝑜 0.005
 The next possible integer N satisfying the above equation is 10, because 210
= 1024.
This means that the minimum number of bits for the A/D is 10.

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10. Fig. 4 depicts the typical setting of an impedance plethysmograph.

Fig. 4

a) What is the instantaneous value of the resulting electrical impedance of the

limb section? Assume it to be a pure resistance.
b) Let V designate the nominal blood volume of a vascular segment of length L
between the two electrodes (assuming a two-electrode system for simplicity).
The corresponding cross-sectional area is A. A further increase in the cross-
sectional area by ΔA produces an increase in the volume by ΔV. Calculate the
resulting increment in the "measured" impedance, designated by Zb, in terms
of ΔA & ΔV.
c) Assuming a model where Zb shunts the nominal vascular impedance, Z, show
that the increment in Z, designated by ΔZ is given by:
−𝑍 2 −𝑍 2
∆𝑍 = 𝑍+𝑍 ≈
𝑏 𝑍𝑏
and that the corresponding volumetric change, ΔV is related to the impedance
change by:
−𝜌𝑏 𝐿2 𝛥𝑍
∆𝑉 ≈
𝑍2

Where 𝜌𝑏 is the blood density.

d) Assuming a constant current source derive a similar expression to the second
one of part (c) for the change in blood volume, ∆𝑉 in terms of a change in
measured voltage, ∆𝑣.

Solution:
𝑣(𝑡)
𝑍(𝑡) = 𝑖(𝑡)
b) According to Ohm's law:
 𝜌𝑏 ∙ 𝐿 𝜌𝑏 ∙ 𝐿2
𝑍𝑏 = =
∆𝐴 ∆𝑉
b) ∆𝑍 is the result of subtracting the original impedance from the shunt
combination of Z and Zb. So
𝑍∙𝑍𝑏 −𝑍 2
∆𝑍 = −𝑍 =
𝑍+𝑍𝑏 𝑍+𝑍𝑏
But since ∆𝐴 ≪ 𝐴, where A is the original vessel's cross-section, then Zb >> Z
Thus
−𝑍 2 ∆𝑉
∆𝑍 ≈ = −𝑍 2 ∙
𝑍𝑏 𝜌𝑏 ∙𝐿2
𝜌𝑏 ∙ 𝐿2 ∙ ∆𝑍
∴ ∆𝑉 ≈ −
𝑍2

c) Since v = i·Z and Δv = i·ΔZ

𝑣 𝛥𝑣
𝑍= 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∆𝑍 =
𝑖 𝑖
So
𝛥𝑣 𝑖2 (𝜌𝑏 ∙𝐿2 )∙𝑖∙𝛥𝑣
∆𝑉 ≈ −(𝜌𝑏 ∙ 𝐿2 ) ∙ ∙ =−
𝑖 𝑣2 𝑣2