Dry Electrode Material Testing and Gain Analysis for Single Arm Ecg System

Abstract

Electrocardiography (ECG) is a medical diagnostic procedure used to record the electrical activity of the heart and display it as a waveform. For picking the ECG waveform, wet and dry electrodes can be utilized. Lots of dry electrode related studies have been carried out in different parts of the world. This paper focuses on the acquisition of ECG from the left arm and right arm separately and comparing the waveforms and gain required for the system. In addition to that, different dry electrode materials and dimensions are used to check the acquisition of ECG waveform from the single arm. Dry electrodes employed in this study include copper, brass, phosphor bronze and nickel silver. The various dimensions used in this study are 3[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]3[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]0.5[Formula: see text]mm, 2.5[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]2.7[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]0.5[Formula: see text]mm, 2.5[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]2.5[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]0.5[Formula: see text]mm, 2[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]3[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]0.5[Formula: see text]mm, 2[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]2[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]0.5[Formula: see text]mm and 1[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]3[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]0.5[Formula: see text]mm. A total of five healthy subjects are used in this study for the acquisition of ECG. The results are very much promising in that the gain required for the left arm ECG system is less than that needed for the right arm ECG system and moreover a clear ECG is obtained from the left arm compared to the right arm ECG waveform. All the dry electrodes used in the study can pick the ECG except for the dimension 1[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]3[Formula: see text]cm[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]0.5[Formula: see text]mm. Copper and brass provide stable output compared to nickel silver and phosphor bronze.