Module 4

Instrumentation for Clinical Laboratory

(Chapters in Reference Books)
 Basic Amplifier Requirements

o The physiological process to be monitored

o should not be influenced in any way by the amplifier
o The measured signal
o should be not distorted
o The amplifier should provide
o the best possible separation of signal and interferences
o The amplifier should offer
o protection of the patient from
o any hazard and electric shock
o The amplifier should be protected
o against damages due to high input voltages.
 Components of Input Signal

o Desired bio-potential
o Undesired bio-potentials
o A power line interference signal
o and its harmonics
o Interference signals generated by
o the tissue-electrode interface
o Noise.
 Instrumentation Amplifier

oA kind of differential amplifier, which has

oin-built input buffers
owhich eliminate the need for
oinput impedance matching and
oavoids loading of the sensor or
oany other proceeding electronic circuit.
oThis makes the amplifier particularly suitable for
ouse in biomedical measurements.
 Instrumentation Amplifier
(Features)

oAn instrumentation amplifier is designed to have

o a very low dc offset,
olow drift,
olow noise,
overy high open-loop gain,

overy high Common-Mode Rejection Ratio, and

overy high input impedances.
Instrumentation Amplifier
Instrumentation Amplifier
(Expression for Gain)
 Isolation Amplifier
oProtects data acquisition components

ofrom common-mode voltages,

o(potential differences between instrument ground and signal ground).

oIn the presence of a common mode voltage,

oinstruments without an isolation barrier

oallow ground currents to circulate.
oThis may produce a noisy representation of
othe signal under investigation, or,
ounder worse conditions,
omay even result in instrument destruction.
Isolation Amplifier
Isolation Amplifier
(Symbol)
Isolation Amplifier
(Basic Design)
 Isolation Amplifier
Types (Fiber Optic Coupling)
 Isolation Amplifier
Types (Opto Coupling)
 Isolation Amplifier
Types (Transformer Coupling)
 Isolation Amplifier
Types (Capacitive Coupling)
 Isolation Amplifier

oIsolation amplifiers are used in systems where

oa sensor or input is separated
ofrom the system acquiring data.
oThese isolation barriers are helpful in protecting
o sensitive sensors from high voltages.
oA typical example of amplifier isolation:
oin medical devices that use electricity to get
ophysical data from patients,
o(an electrocardiograph (ECG) or an electroencephalograph (EEG)).
 Chopper Amplifier
oWhile measuring bio-signals,
osome types of signal are very weak and
oneed amplification with exceedingly high gain.
oA chopper amplifier employs a chopper circuit
oto break up the input signal so that it can be
oprocessed as if it were an ac signal
oIt is then integrated back to a dc signal at the output.
oEven extremely small dc signals
ofrom piezoelectric and Hall sensors
ocan be amplified.
Chopper Amplifier Input
Chopper Amplifier Output
Simple Chopper Amplifier
Chopper Amplifier
(Differential Input)
Chopper Amplifier
(MOSFET Based)
Input Guarding