Dept.

Elective V
Biomedical Engineering

Chapter 6
Physiological Transducer
Introduction and Review
• Transducers are devices which convert one form of energy into another.

• The usual advantages of electric and electronic measurement methods leads to the conversion
of all non-electric physiological events/phenomenon into electric quantities.
•
The factors that decide a particular choice of transducer for the study of a specific physiological
phenomenon are:

• The magnitude of quantity to be measured.

• The order of accuracy required.
• The static or dynamic character of the process to be studied.
• The site of application on the patient’s body, both for short-term and long-term monitoring.
• Economic considerations.
 Assignment no. 1:

• List out the various classification of transducer clearly mentioning the basis of the classification?

• List out the various static characteristics of a transducer? Briefly explain them also.

• Why dynamic characteristic of the transducer used in medical instrumentation need to be considered? What are
the different dynamic characteristics considered for physiological transducer?
Pressure Transducer
• Pressure is an important and vital body parameter.

• Many devices have been developed to effect its transduction to measurable electrical signals.

• The basic principle behind all these pressure transducers is that the pressure to be measured is applied to a flexible
diaphragm which gets deformed by the action of the pressure exerted on it. This motion of the diaphragm is then
measured in terms of an electrical signal.
• Absolute pressure is pressure referred to a vacuum. Gauge pressure is pressure referred to atmospheric pressure.
The commonly used units for pressure are defined at 0°C as

• P = 1 mm Hg = 1 torr = 12.9 mm blood = 13.1 mm saline = 13.6 mm H2O = 133.0 dyn/cm2 = 1330 bar =
133.31 Pa = 0.133 kPa (Pa = Pascal)

Assignment no. 2:

Explain with neat sketch the working of a unbounded strain gauges as a pressure transducer for blood pressure
measurement?
Transducer for body temperature measurement
• The most popular method of measuring temperature is by using a mercury-in-glass thermometer.
•
They are slow, difficult to read and susceptible to contamination.

• Also, reliable accuracy cannot be attained by these thermometers, especially over the wide range which is now
found to be necessary.

• In many of the circumstances of lowered body temperature, continuous or frequent sampling of temperature is
desirable, as in the operating theatre, post-operative recovery room and intensive care unit, and during forced
diuresis, massive blood transfusion, and accidental hypothermia.

• The continuous reading facility of electronic thermometers obviously lends itself to such applications.

Assignment no. 3:
• List various types of transducer used in body temperature measurement? Briefly explain the use of these transducers for
body temperature measurement?
Optical Fibre sensor:
• Optical fibres can transmit light over great distances with low power loss.

• In principle, optical fibre sensors allows the interaction of light with a measured system leading to the basis for
sensing the physiological parameters.

Advantages of Optical Fibre Sensors:

• Optical fibre sensors are non-electrical and hence are free from electrical interference usually associated with
electronically based sensors.
• They are immune from cross-talk.
• There is a high degree of mechanical flexibility associated with the fibre optic and this combined with its reduced
size, allows access to otherwise inaccessible areas of the body.
• They are suitable for telemetry applications as bulk of the instrumentation can be at a reasonable distance from the
patient.
• These sensors do not involve any electrical connection to the patient body, thereby ensuring patient safety.
• More than one chemical species can be measured with a single sensor by employing more than one probe
detection wavelength offering substantial economic advantage.
• These devices are intrinsically safe, involving low optical power—generally a few milliwatts.
• The sensors are capable of observing a sample in its dynamic environment, no matter how distant, difficult to
reach or hostile the environment.
• The cost is low enough to make the sensors disposable for many applications.
 Assignment no. 4:

• Explain the principle of temperature measurement using optical method?

• Using a transducer of your choice, design an electronic circuit for the continuous measurement of body temperature for an
ICU patient than can transmit the data remotely for patient monitoring?