UNIT 3 BIOAMPLIFIERS

1. NEED FOR BIO – AMPLIFIER

 Modern multi-channel biomedical instruments and recorders are usually modularly

designed to meet both existing and anticipated requirements.
 Conventional preamplifiers offer a wide range of input sensitivities to cover virtually all
signal sources.
 For biophysical measurements, the amplifiers employed include:

(i) AC/DC universal amplifier with special features such as capacity neutralization,
current injection, low leakage current and low DC drift or to make extracellular
recordings through metal microelectrodes for EMG, EEG, EOG, etc.
(ii) an ECG amplifier with full 12 lead selection and patient isolation.
(iii) a transducer amplifier suited for bridge measurements on strain gauges, strain
gauge based blood pressure transducers, force transducers, resistance temperature
devices and direct low level DC input signals.
(iv) a DC amplifier used in conjunction with standard thermistor probes for the accurate
measurement of temperature within the range of medical applications.

Various types of amplifiers which are generally used are as follows:

Differential amplifier

 It is one which will reject any common mode signal that appears simultaneously at both
amplifier input terminals and amplifies only the voltage difference that appears across
its input terminals.
 Most of the amplifiers used for measuring bioelectric signals are of the differential type.

AC coupled amplifiers

 AC coupled amplifiers have a limited frequency response and are, therefore, used only
for special medical applications such as electrocardiograph machine.
 For electrocardiograms, an AC amplifier with a sensitivity, giving 0.5 mV/cm, and
frequency response up to 1 kHz and an input impedance of 2 to 5 MW is used.
 For such applications as retinography, EEG and EMG, more sensitive AC amplifiers are
required, giving a chart sensitivity of say 50 mV/cm with a high input impedance of over
10 MW.

Carrier amplifiers

 Carrier amplifiers are used with transducers which require an external source of
excitation.
 They are characterized by high gain, negligible drift, extremely low noise and the ability
to operate with resistive, inductive or capacitive type transducers.

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 They essentially contain a carrier oscillator, a bridge balance and calibration circuit, a
high gain AC amplifier, a phase-sensitive detector and a DC output amplifier.

DC amplifiers

 DC amplifiers are generally of the negative feedback type and are used for medium gain
applications down to about 1 mV signal levels for full scale.
 They are not practical for very low level applications because of DC drift and poor
common-mode rejection capabilities.
 They are usually employed as pen drive amplifiers in direct writing recorders.

Chopper input DC amplifiers

 Chopper input DC amplifiers are preferred for low level inputs to instrumentation
systems.
 Their high frequency response is limited to about one half of the input chopper
frequency.

Chopper stabilized DC amplifiers

 Chopper stabilized DC amplifiers are used for low level but preferably wideband
applications such as oscilloscopes, tape recorders and light beam oscilloscope recorders.
 This includes an AC amplifier for signals above about 20 Hz, a DC chopper input amplifier
for signals from about 20 Hz down to DC plus a wideband feedback stabilized DC
amplifier.

DC bridge amplifiers

 DC bridge amplifiers are employed with resistive transducers which require an external
source of excitation.
 They can be used as conventional DC high gain amplifiers and offer operating simplicity
and high frequency response.
 These amplifiers are necessary for transducers used to measure temperature and blood
pressure.
 The sensitivity in these cases may be 50 mV/cm with an input impedance of 50 kW.

2. DIFFERENTIAL BIO- AMPLIFIER

Differential amplifier

 Differential amplifier is one which will reject any common mode signal that appears
simultaneously at both amplifier input terminals and amplifies only the voltage
difference that appears across its input terminals.
Most of the amplifiers used for measuring bioelectric signals are of the differential type
 Assume a network with transfer function T(S) between V2 and the non inverting
terminal .The voltage existing and the input terminal 2 as

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e2=T(S)V2

 The input current to the ideal amplifier is zero and by the principle of superposition ,the
voltage existing at the input terminal 1 as

FIG DIFFERENTIAL AMPLIFIER

FIG SIMPLE DIFFERENTIAL AMPLIFIER

 Since the potential difference between the two input terminals of the ideal amplifier is
forced to zero by the feedback through Rf, the voltage e1 must be equal to e2

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 Thus the circuit amplifies the difference of the input signals V1 and [Link] is no virtual
ground to the input to the amplifier in this circuit.
 The feedback in the circuit forces e1 to be equal to e2.

Different modes of operation of the differential amplifier:

Single ended mode:

 When either V1 or V2 is equal to zero, the operation of the differential amplifier is known
as single ended mode of operation.
 If V1=0 the differential amplifier is operating in the non inverting mode and if V2=0, it is
operating in the inverting mode.

Differential Mode:

 In this mode, the two input signals are equal but have opposite polarity at every instant
of time.

 Input signals are called differential mode signals.

Common Mode:

 The input voltages appearing at the input terminals 1 and 2 are identical both in
amplitude and phase at every instant of time. These input signals are called common
model signals.

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 Thus the common mode input signals produce no voltage at the output of the ideal
amplifier.

Common Mode Rejection in a differential amplifier:

 The ability of the differential amplifier circuit to ignore the common mode inputs like
50Hz interference from the mains is known as Common Mode Rejection (CMR).
 CMR is the important characteristics of medical amplifier because it prevents response
to stray radiation from the power lines or from other electrical equipments in the
vicinity.
Amplification of the differential voltage

CMRR = ------------------------------------------------------------
Amplification of the common mode voltage

 A CMRR of 100000:1 means that the common mode signal is discriminated against the
differential signal by the ratio of 100000 to 1.

Common mode rejection in db=20log10 CMRR

 Thus a CMRR of 100000:1 can be referred to as a CMRR of 100db.

3. IMPEDANCE MATCHING CIRCUIT

In many applications it is desirable to match the impedance of the input device to the
output impedance of the signal source instead of making the impedance of the input device
either too high or too low.

 Typical cases of impedance matching are those involving applications of waveform

generators like pulse generators and radio frequency generators, which utilize a
transmission line to transfer energy from the source to the input device.

E0=voltage of the source under no load conditions.

EL=voltage of the source under loaded conditions
R0=output resistance of the source
RL=Input resistance of the load.

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Differentiating equation (1) and equating it to zero, we get RL=R0

In order to maximum power may be drawn from a source is when external load resistance
matches the internal resistance of the source. Under condition of maximum power transfer.

 Power delivered to the load is P max=E02/4R0

 For AC circuits :The internal impedance of the source and the input impedance may not
be pure resistances but are usually complex impedances

 For maximum power transfer the impedance of the load should be made equal to the
complex conjugate of the Thevenin equivalent impedance of the source.

 It’s clear from the equation 2, if the no load voltage E0 of the source and its output
resistance R0 are given, the power depends upon the magnitude of the load resistances
RL.
 The condition for impedance matching is not critical.

FIG Impedance Matching Characteristics

 It shows the relative amount of power transfer from one system to another for different
ratios of RL/RO
 It’s very often desirable to change or control the amount of power transferred from one
system to another.
 A disadvantage of this method is considerable loss of power and a very low frequency.
 A very efficient way to control power transferred to one system from another is by pulse
modulation of power.

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The average power transfer is Pav= Pmax/T

t= Pulse Width
T=interval between successive pulses.

 By variation of t between O and T the power can be controlled between O and the
maximum value of power.
 Physical advantages like linearity, efficiency or avoidance of loading of previous stage
may be more important than the maximum power transfer.

4. ISOLATION AMPLIFIERS

Generally isolation amplifiers are called as Pre-amplifier isolation circuits. They are used to
increase the input impedance of monitoring system in order to isolate the patient from the
biomedical instrument. The patient must be isolated because of most monitors are line
operated.

 Darlington pair is an isolation amplifier which provides high input impedance with high
current gain.
 Two resistors Q1 and Q2 are connected in common emitter compound connecting
circuits.
 The emitter terminals of transistor Q1 is directly connected to the base of the transistor
Q2. The collector of both transistors shares a common load RL. Since the transistor Q2 is
the common leg of the transistor Q1.
 Resistance RB is chosen so that both stages are operating in the active region of their
collector characteristics X, Y and Z are three external terminals to the two transistors.

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FIG Darlington Pair

 Bootstrapping Circuit is also used as isolation amplifier .In the cascade emitter follower
circuit, a feedback network may be connected between the emitter of the second
transistor Q2 and collector of the first transistor Q1.
 The feedback voltage created by the bootstrap voltage dividing network R1 and R2 is
injected into the collector circuit of the first transistor.

FIG Bootstrapping circuit

 To get more high input for the differential amplifier for better isolation.
 It shows the high input impedance amplifier which is formed by connecting an input
isolation or buffer amplifier at each input amplifier of the differential amplifier and their
outputs are acting as inputs for the differential amplifier.
 In the differential amplifier,

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FIG Isolation amplifier using operational amplifier

Three methods are used in the design of isolation amplifiers:

 Transformer isolation
 Optical isolation
 Capacitive isolation.

ECG Isolation Amplifier Circuit:

It shows the block diagram of the transformer coupled ECG isolation amplifier circuit. The
signals from the different leads are given to the low pass filter having a cut off frequency about
10KHz.

 The filter circuit is followed by the high voltage and over voltage protection circuits so
that the amplifier can understand large voltages during defibrillation.
 The DC amplifier can also receive a standard DC voltage of 1mv through a push button
for calibration.
 The primary of an isolated low capacitances power transformer along with the rectifier
and filter circuits are used.

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FIG ECG Isolation amplifier circuit

 Another transformer is used to deliver the output from the driver of the modulator .The
output of the demodulator is used as the input of the power amplifier.
 The available isolation amplifier having a CMRR of 115dB with common mode
impedance as 1011 ohms.

.Optical Isolation

 This light falls on a phototransistor on the output side, which converts the light signal
again into an electrical signal having its original frequency, amplitude and linearity.
 No modulator/demodulator is needed because the signal is transmitted optically all the
way.

FIG Optically isolated isolation amplifier

Capacitive Isolation

 The capacitive method uses digital encoding of the input voltage and frequency
modulation to send the signal across a differential capacitive barrier.

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 Separate power supply is needed on both sides of the barrier.

 Signals with bandwidths up to 70 kHz can be conveniently handled in this arrangement

FIG Capacitive coupled isolation amplifier

The relative merits of the three types of isolation techniques are:

 All three types are in common use, though the transformer isolation amplifier is more
popular.
 Opto-coupled amplifier uses a minimum number of components and is cost effective,
followed by the transformer coupled amplifier.
 The capacitor coupled amplifier is the most expensive.
 Opto-isolated amplifiers- lowest isolation voltage (800 V continuous) between input
and output;
 Transformer coupled 1200 V and capacitance coupled 2200 V.
 Isolation resistance levels are of the order of 1010, 1012 and 1012 ohms for transformer
coupled, Opto-coupled and capacitance coupled.
 Gain stability and linearity are best for capacitance coupled —0.005%,
 On par for the transformer and Opto-coupled amplifier—0.02%.
 Electrical isolation is the most commonly used technique to ensure patient protection
against electrical hazards.

5. POWER LINE INTERFERENCE

A major source of interference when one is recording or monitoring the ECG is the electric
power system. Besides providing power to the electrocardiographs itself, power lines are
connected to other pieces of equipment and appliances.

 There are also power lines in the walls, floors and ceiling running past the room to other
points in the building.
 These power lines can affect the recording of the ECG and introduce interference at the
line frequency in the recorded trace. Such interference appears on the recording as a
result of two mechanisms, each operating singly or in some cases both operating
together.
 Electric field coupling between the power lines and electrocardiograph and a patient is a
result of electric field.
 These fields can be present even when the apparatus is not turned on because the
current is not necessary to establish the electric field.
 These fields couple into the patient, the lead wires and the electrocardiograph itself.

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 The current through the capacitance C3 coupling the under grounded side of the power
line and the electrocardiograph itself flow to ground and does not cause interference.
 C1 represents the capacitance between the power line and one of the leads.
 Current Id1 does not flow into the electrocardiograph because of its high input
impedance, but rather through the skin electrode impedances Z1 and ZG to ground.

The voltage amplified is that appearing between inputs A&B, VA-VB

If the two leads run near each other id1=id2

Values measured for 9m cables show that id=6nA, skin electrode impedances may differ as
much as 20kohms

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 It shows that current flows from the power line into the body. This displacement current
idb flows through the ground impedance ZG to ground.
 The resulting voltage drop causes a common mode voltage Vcm to appear throughout
the body.

Substituting typical value yields

 In poor electrical environment in which idb>1ma,vcm can be greater than 50mv

 Thus Vcm is decreased because of the attenuator action of the skin electrode impedance
and Zin.

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6. RIGHT LEG DRIVEN ECG AMPLIFIER

 In many modern electrocardiograph systems the patient is not grounded at all instead
the right leg electrode is connected to the output of an auxiliary op amp.
 The common mode voltage on the body is served by the two averaging resistors Ra,
inverted, amplified and feedback to the right leg. This negative feedback drives the
common mode voltage to a low value.
 The body's displacement current flows not to ground but rather to the op-amp output
circuit. This reduces the pickup as far as the ECG amplifier is concerned and effectively
grounds the patient.
 The circuit can also provide some electric safety. If an abnormally high voltage should
between the patient and ground as a result of electric leakage.
 This effectively un-grounds the patient, because the amplifier can no longer drive the
right leg .Now the parallel resistances Rf and Ro are between the patient and ground.
 They can be several mega ohms in value large enough to limit the current.
 These resistances do not protect the patient, because 120V on the patient would
breakdown the op-amp transistors of the ECG amplifier and large currents would flow to
ground.
.

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FIG Driven-right leg circuit for minimizing common mode interference

7. BAND PASS FILTERING

The active filters are

 Low Pass Filter

 High Pass Filter
 Band Pass Filter

Low Pass Filter

 It shows a low-pass filter that is useful for attenuating high frequency noise and it can be
obtained by using the one op-amp circuit.
 The advantages of this circuit are that it is capable of gain and has very low output
impedance.

FIG A low-pass filter attenuates high frequencies

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High Pass Filter:

 It is useful for amplifying a small AC voltage that rides on top of a large DC voltage,
because C1 blocks the DC.

FIG A High-pass filter attenuates low frequencies and blocks dc.

Band Pass Filter:

A series combination of the low pass filter and the high pass filter results in a band pass filter
which amplifies frequencies over a desired range and attenuates higher and lower frequencies.

 It shows that the Band Pass Function can be achieved with one op-amp. The corner
frequencies are defined by the same relations as those for the low pass and high pass
filters.
 It’s useful for amplifying a certain band of frequencies such as those required for
recording heart sounds or the electrocardiogram.

FIG A Band pass filter attenuates both low and high frequencies.

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