Title:

Wearable Ultrasonic Sensor Using Double - Layer

PVDF Films for Monitoring Tissue Motion

Name: Abdullah
Method of Learning: DL (Distance Learning)
Reg.I.D: 2223
Department: MS-EE
Abasyn University Islamabad Campus
Submitted To: Dr. Aqib Perwaiz
 Abstract
• Monitoring of the physical properties of the tissues provides
valuable information for the clinical diagnosis and evaluation
• One of the challenges of an ultrasonic method for
continuous monitoring of a tissue motion using a
conventional clinical ultrasonic image system could be
motion artifacts due to the weight and size of its handheld
ultrasonic probe employed
• A wearable ultrasonic sensor, made of a polyvinylidene
fluoride (PVDF) polymer piezoelectric film,
• It may be able to reduce the motion artifacts due to its
lightweight and flexible properties
• The sensor was constructed using two 52-μm thick PVDF
films
• The developed double-layer PVDF WUS improved the
ultrasonic penetration into the tissue.
• The developed WUS successfully demonstrated to
monitor the contractions of biceps muscles in an upper
arm
 Introduction
• Wearable ultrasonic sensor (WUS) made of polyvinylidene fluoride
(PVDF) polymer piezoelectric film.
• The inherent properties of the PVDF film such as flexibility, lightweight,
broadband response, and close acoustic impedance matching to the
biological soft tissue are suitable features for a WUS to perform
continuous monitoring of the tissue motion
• The applications of the PVDF film WUS have been demonstrated in
skeletal muscle monitoring, monitoring of mechanical properties of
plantar soft tissue, measurement of arterial diameter, and
cardiopulmonary activity monitoring
 Design and Construction

Fig. 1. Structure (a) and photo (b) of the double-layer WUS consisted of two 52-μm thick PVDF films.
 Design and Construction
• Double-layer WUS consisted of two 52-μm thick PVDF layers.
• Each PVDF layer had top and bottom electrodes of 10-μm thick
of silver ink layer.
• The inner electrodes were bonded, and the outer electrodes
served as a ground electrode.
• Two PVDF layers were connected electrically in parallel and
acoustically in series with their piezoelectric polarization
directions antiparallel
• equal electric potential was applied to each PVDF layer which
yielded the increase of the acoustic output power relative to
that of a single-layer PVDF WUS of an equivalent thickness
 Design and Construction
• Brass foil as an electromagnetic shield material was applied
around the WUS for isolation from environmental electrical
noise
• Acoustic insulator was inserted without bonding between the
brass foil and the electrode
• The sensing area of the constructed double-layer WUS was 20
mm by 20 mm
• Total thickness of the WUS was 350 μm.
 Evaluation of Ultrasonic Performance
• Double-layer PVDF WUS was evaluated experimentally using an ultrasonic pulse-
echo technique, and compared
• The same settings of the pulser-receiver were used for both the WUSs.
• The measurements were repeated several times to ensure the consistency of the
amplitude of the reflected signal
 TISSUE MOTION MONITORING
1. Measurement Setup
• The double-layer PVDF WUS was attached to the skin at a location of interest
• WUS transmitted pulsed ultrasound into the underlying tissue and then received
the ultrasound reflected from the tissue boundaries
• The received ultrasonic signal was filtered by the analog bandpass filter built in
the pulser-receiver with a bandwidth of 1 MHz-22.5 MHz and then digitized by a
data acquisition (DAQ) system
 Biceps Muscles
• A tissue thickness change due to voluntary contraction of biceps muscles was
measured using the developed double-layer WUS.
• The purpose of this measurement was to investigate the feasibility of monitoring
large and thick tissue by the double layer WUS
• The signal strength obtained by the double-layer WUS was 1.7 times greater than
that of the single-layer WUS.

(a). Ultrasonic signal reflected from humeral bone (b). Measured depth change due to the contraction of biceps muscles
 Cardiac Tissue
• Cardiac tissue motion associated with the heartbeat was monitored by the
developed double-layer WUS
• ECG signal was acquired in synchronization with the ultrasonic measurement. The
double-layer WUS was attached to the left third intercostal space, and the ECG
electrodes were positioned in the lead II configuration
• Measurement ability of double-layer WUS to
observe the ultrasonic signal from the cardiac
tissue.
• The potential of the double-layer WUS for
prolonged continuous monitoring of the
cardiac wall motion.
ECG signal (top), and M-mode ultrasonic measurement Of
cardiac tissue.
 Future Work
•In future study, a measurement configuration with
multiple WUSs will be investigated in order to improve
the measurement reliability
•In addition, monitoring tissue motion with different
muscles for several subjects will be conducted