The effects of mis-positioning a newly-designed noninvasive, cuffless blood pressure sensor are thoroughly investigated via simulation and analysis on a 3D fluid-solid-electric finite element model. A subsequent optimal design of this blood pressure is conducted based on the aforementioned mis-positioning effects. A highly-accurate, non-invasive, cuffless blood pressure (BP) sensor was successfully developed recently for an effective personal monitoring device on blood pressures. This new small-sized, portable blood pressure sensor is able to offer continuous BP measurements. The availability of continuous blood pressures are important for monitoring and evaluating personal cardiovascular systems. The sensor contains a strain-sensitive electrode encapsulated by flexible polymer. As the sensor placed on the position right on the top of the center of the wrist pulsation area, the deflection of the sensor induces the resistance changes of the electrode. By measuring the changes in electrode resistance, the level of pulsation is successfully quantified. Subsequent calculation based in this measurement can lead to fair estimates on blood pressures.
However, as the sensor is placed on the wrist area where pulsation occurs, the mis-positioning of the sensor to the desired location, the center of the pulsation area, is inevitable. This study is dedicated to investigate the effects of the mis-positioning via a 3D finite element model. A new 3D fluid-solid-electro coupling interaction finite element model of the wrist is built for predicting the vibration of radial artery and then diastolic and systolic blood pressures. The FEM includes sensor of gel capsule and strain-sensing electrodes, radial artery, blood, radius bones, tendon, muscles and the front-end readout circuit. The FEM is the multi physics FEM with fluid, solid and electric. The section of wrist is constructed from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the length of the FEM is 40mm. The complete 3D FEM model successfully simulated the vibration of skin surface and the sensor module. The diastolic and systolic blood pressures can be accurately predicted by the simulated output resistance.
The pulsation levels due to varied mis-positionings are simulated by the built model, and simulation results are successfully validated by experiments. It is found that due to the unsymmetrical geometry of the wrist, the pulsation levels are also varied in an un-symmetric fashion with the mis-positionings in different directions. The maximum output of the BP sensor occurs when the sensor is placed ±3 mm away from the center of the pulsation area, while the sensor output remain valid for subsequent signal processing as the sensor is placed within ±5 mm from the pulsation center. Considering the inevitable mis-positionings by all possible users in different genders and ages, the sizes of the sensors are successfully optimized for satisfactory average signal quality over all possible users.
