Physical Sensors and

Measurement
Dr. Muhammad Shafique
Head of Biomedical Engineering Dept.
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Riphah International University, Islamabad

Date:22-10-2020
 Objectives
• Resistance Sensors and Measurement
• Inductive Sensors and Measurement
• Capacitive Sensors and Measurement
• Piezoelectric Sensors and Measurement
• Magnetoelectric Sensors and Measurement
• Photoelectric Sensors
• Thermoelectric Sensors and Measurement
 Introduction
• Physical sensors will have more significant applications in
biomedicine, especially with the development of MEMS
technology for developing more precise and compact
sensors, along with the development of the novel
measuring technology

• The nature of physical phenomena includes mechanical,

thermal, electrical, magnetic, atomic and nuclear, each
having the properties of bodies or physical systems
 Introduction
• Taking into account that the output signal is
definitely determined by the input signal, and
basing our criteria on the differences of
measuring objects in the biomedicine field,
physical sensors can be classified as pressure
sensors, displacement sensors, speed sensors,
acceleration sensors, flow sensors and
temperature sensors.
 Introduction
• Whereas another criterion based on different physical effects is also
significant

• In this case, there are resistance sensors, inductive sensors,

capacitive sensors, piezoelectric sensors, electromagnetic sensors,
photoelectric sensors, and thermoelectric sensors

• It is a well-known fact that customers of sensors will choose a

sensor in connection with the physical nature of information to be
obtained about a phenomenon or a physical system
 Introduction
• Combining the good features of materials like
optical fiber, superconductor or nanophase
materials and the semiconductor micro
fabrication technology, the possibility of
multifunction, high precision, and integration
for physical sensors is guaranteed
Resistance Sensors and Measurement
 Introduction
• As a primary kind of resistance sensor, the resistance strain sensor
is capable of converting strain into a resistance variation.

• Another type of resistance sensor, known as the piezoresistive

sensor, is based on the piezoresistive effect and has the advantages
of high sensitivity, good resolution and smaller size.

• They are both widely used in the measurement of blood pressure,

pulse and intraocular pressure, intracranial pressure, and eyelid
pressure in the biomedical field
 Resistance Strain Sensors
• It is a basic phenomenon that deformations of
elastic elements bring about resistance
change of strain sensitive materials under
functions of tested physical parameters.

• The most commonly used sensing element is

resistance strain gage
 Strain Effect and Characteristics
Strain effect
– As the working principle of resistance strain gage, strain effect means
resistance value changes with mechanical deformation of elastic
elements.

– As shown in Fig. 3.1, metal resistance wire will elongate along the axial
direction and shorten along the radial direction when subjected to
force in its elastic range

Fig. 3.1. The schematic diagram of strain effect: L is the initial length of resistance wire, dL is
the increment of length, r is the radius of cross-section, dr is the increment of radius, and F is
force
 Strain Effect and Characteristics
Strain effect
• The relative variation of resistance value can be calculated as follows:

(3.1)

• where μ is the Poisson ratio of resistance wire and ε is the strain.

Generally, the variation of resistance value caused by unit strain is called
sensitivity coefficient (K) of the resistance wire. K is constant in the stretch
limit of the resistance wire
 Strain Effect and Characteristics
Strain effect
• A fundamental parameter of the strain gauge is its sensitivity to
strain, expressed quantitatively as the gauge factor (GF)

• Gauge factor is defined as the ratio of fractional change in electrical

resistance to the fractional change in length (strain):

• GF = ∆R/R⁄ ∆L /L = ∆R/R⁄ ε

• The Gauge Factor for metallic strain gauges is typically around 2.

 Strain Effect and Characteristics
Categories of resistance strain gage
• Among the great varieties of forms, strain gages can be generally classified as bonded/pasted
types, thin film types and semiconductor types

• New materials are designed to improve security and insure innocuousness for human beings,
either in rehabilitation or health monitoring.

• Elastic resistance strain gages with flexible conductive elastomers (such as electrically
conductive liquid silicon rubber) have been used.

• They are easy to deform, and have good mechanical, electrical, ageing, fast vulcanization*
properties and biocompatibility, and have great potential in biomedical measurement

* to treat (rubber) with sulfur and heat, thereby imparting strength, greater elasticity, durability, etc.
strain guages
 Strain Effect and Characteristics
Temperature error
• Temperature error of strain gage refers to the
additional error brought by the temperature
change in the measuring circumstance.
 Resistance Strain Sensors
Measurement
• Resistance change, caused by an extremely small
strain, needs to be measured out, and the
relative resistance change needs to be converted
into a variation of voltage or current

• As mechanical strain is generally small, stain

gages are almost always used in a bridge
configuration
 Resistance Strain Sensors
Measurement
• The general Wheatstone bridge consists of four resistor arms with an
excitation voltage, which is applied across the bridge.

• The bridge is balanced since the product of two opposite arms is equal to
that of the left, which means the voltage output is zero.

• If one arm is replaced with a strain gage (quarter bridge circuit), any
changes in the strain gage resistance will unbalance the bridge and result
in a nonzero output voltage.

• Thus, strain can be calculated from the output voltage

 Resistance Strain Sensors
Measurement
• In Figure, VIN is the input voltage to the bridge, Rg is
the resistance of the strain gage, R1, R2 and R3 are
the resistances of the bridge completion resistors,
and VOUT is the bridge output voltage.

• A 1⁄4 bridge configuration exists when one arm of

the bridge is an active gage and the other arms are
fixed value resistors or unstrained gages, as is the
case in this circuit.

• Ideally, the strain gage, Rg, is the only resistor in the

circuit that varies, and then only due to a change in
strain on the surface of the specimen to which it is
attached.
 Resistance Strain Sensors
Measurement
• VOUT is a function of VIN, R1, R2, R3 and Rg.

• This relationship is:

VOUT = VIN [R3/(R3 +Rg) – R2/(R1 +R2)]

• When (R1/R2) = (Rg/R3), VOUT becomes zero and the bridge is balanced.

• If we could adjust one of the resistor values (R2, for example), then we
could balance the bridge for varying values of the other resistors.
 Resistance Strain Sensors
Measurement
• We see that the quantity we need to measure is the fractional
change in gage resistance from the unstrained value to the strained
value.

• If, when the gage is unstrained, we adjust R2 until the bridge is

balanced and then apply strain to the gage, the change in Rg due to
the strain will unbalance the bridge and VOUT will become nonzero.

• If we adjust the value of R2 to once again balance the bridge, the

amount of the change required in resistance R2 will equal the
change in Rg due to the strain.
 Biomedical Applications
Blood pressure measurement
• Non-invasive blood pressure measurement, like cuff-based
blood pressure measurement, which has the advantages of
facility, safety, painlessness and more acceptance, is
generally used in home health monitoring and conventional
physical examination

• As “normal” blood pressure varies during the day, with age,

state of health and clinical situation, and also has beat-to-
beat variations, sometimes the non-invasive blood pressure
monitoring is not possible or likely to be inaccurate.
 Biomedical Applications
Blood pressure measurement
• Continuous, invasive blood pressure monitoring is the
gold standard of blood pressure measurement giving
accurate beat-to-beat information.

• It is also used when long-term measurement in

critically ill patients is required, avoiding the problem
of repeated cuff inflation, which will cause localized
tissue damage
 Biomedical Applications
Blood pressure measurement
• A typical method for invasive blood pressure
measurement uses the extravascular system, as
shown in Fig. 3.5.

• A catheter is placed in the artery or vein and is

connected to a 3-way stopcock and the pressure
sensor.

• In this system a catheter couples a flush solution

(heparinized saline) through a disposable pressure
sensor with an integral flush device to the sensor
port.

• The 3-way stopcock is used to take blood samples

and zero the pressure sensor.
 Biomedical Applications
Blood pressure measurement
• The catheter must be flushed frequently (every few
minutes) to prevent blood clotting at the catheter tip.

• The catheter is inserted by a surgical cut-down or by a

percutaneous insertion (surgical needle and a guide
wire).

• Blood pressure is transmitted via the catheter to the

sensor’s diaphragm.
 Biomedical Applications
Blood pressure measurement
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 Biomedical Applications
Bladder volume measurement in patients with urinary
dysfunction

• Millions of people have been persecuted by urinary bladder

dysfunction, which leads to loss of voluntary control over the
bladder muscles and cuts off sensorial feedback to the central
nervous system

• The prevalent therapeutic method in clinical practice is stimulating

the sacral root at the base of the spine to produce microstimulation

• In the past few years, direct sacral nerve stimulation, using a dual
implantable stimulator has proved to be clinically feasible.
 Biomedical Applications
Bladder volume measurement in patients with urinary
dysfunction
• The stimulation can be permanent, selective, or involve
conversion between the two types.

• But the best choice is the process which creates the ability
to trigger emptying of the bladder in response to maximal
bladder volume, which is similar to the automatic sensorial
feedback.

• So bladder volume detection becomes the key concern

 Biomedical Applications
Bladder volume measurement in patients with urinary
dysfunction
• There are some traditional ways to measure bladder volume, such as using a
pressure sensor, ultrasound measurements and bioelectric impedance
measurements.

• However, they are not entirely satisfactory because of some potential defects or
unwanted interference.

• A new method reported by Rajagopalan et al. is employing an implantable

polypyrrole-based strain sensor, using a conductive polymer as the sensing device.

• The conducting polymer-polypyrrole (PPY) is coated on a flexible fabric and

inserted over the upper portion of the bladder (Fig. 3.7a).
 (b)

Fig. 3.7. Bladder volume measurement: (a) Illustration of bladder covered by

stock with strip lines of PPY; (b) Interface circuit
 Biomedical Applications
Bladder volume measurement in patients with urinary
dysfunction
• Like most soft tissues in the body, the urinary bladder wall is non-linear,
viscoelastic* and anisotropic**.

• The collagen fibers are coiled when the bladder is relaxed and begins to stretch
during filling.

• Correspondingly, the collagen fibers allow for high strain, which means that the
urinary bladder can cater for a volume of up to 11 times its resting volume

*Viscoelasticity is the property of materials that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation. Viscous
materials, like honey, resist shear flow and strain linearly with time when a stress is applied.

**Anisotropic:having a physical property which has a different value when measured in different directions. An example is wood, which is
stronger along the grain than across it.
 Biomedical Applications
Bladder volume measurement in patients with urinary
dysfunction
• Fig. 3.7b shows the implantable measuring circuit, which can read out the changes
in resistance.

• The sensing current proportional to the sensing resistor is extracted through the
clocking system (SW1, SW2) which is amplified in the current mirror block and
then integrated using a capacitor (Cin).

• The output of the Schmitt trigger block drives the digital counter which outputs a
value proportional to the input resistance value.

• The circuit can provide continuous resistance outputs for a given input voltage.
This resistance reading can then be transmitted wirelessly to a wearable display
positioned just outside the body.