A comfortability and signal quality study of conductive weave electrodes in long-term collection of human electrocardiographs

2018 ◽  
Vol 89 (11) ◽  
pp. 2098-2112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueliang Xiao ◽  
Ke Dong ◽  
Chenhao Li ◽  
Guanzheng Wu ◽  
Hongtao Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Irritation ◽  
Woven Fabrics ◽  
Comfort Level ◽  
Signal Quality ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Contact Impedance ◽  
Ecg Signals ◽  
Skin Contact ◽  
Textile Electrodes

Long-term electrocardiogram (ECG) recording can reveal some vital cardiovascular disorders and provide warning of human sudden cerebral or vascular diseases in advance. This requires high-quality ECG skin electrodes. Gel (Ag/AgCl) electrodes were reported to have good signal quality in ECG acquisition, but easily caused human skin irritation or allergy. Consequently, textile electrodes have attracted more attention for long-term ECG acquisition. In this paper, eight woven fabrics with diverse yarns and weft densities were fabricated in plain and honeycomb structures. The fabrics were investigated in terms of comfortability, fabric–skin contact impedance and acquired bio-signal quality. Honeycomb weave electrodes were measured with a high comfort level from subjective and objective views, including pleasant tactile comfort, high visual acceptance, good air permeability and good heat transfer. Weave electrodes made of all conductive filaments in high density had low skin contact impedance and high-quality ECG signals. An increase of compression load on weave electrodes resulted in a decrease of contact impedance with a high signal quality. A conductive honeycomb weave with unit repeat of 6*6 warps*wefts presented the highest score of acquired ECG signals of all studied electrodes based on the qualities of the QRS complex, P and T waves, R peak amplitude and variation and signal-to-noise ratio. This study contributes to the future design and fabrication of textile electrodes using honeycomb weave in long-term and real-time collection of human ECGs.

scholarly journals Wearable Smart Textiles for Long-Term Electrocardiography Monitoring—A Review

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 4174
Author(s):  
Abreha Bayrau Nigusse ◽  
Desalegn Alemu Mengistie ◽  
Benny Malengier ◽  
Granch Berhe Tseghai ◽  
Lieva Van Langenhove
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Motion Artifacts ◽  
Capacitive Coupling ◽  
Signal Quality ◽  
Ecg Monitoring ◽  
Contact Impedance ◽  
Skin Contact ◽  
Textile Electrodes

The continuous and long-term measurement and monitoring of physiological signals such as electrocardiography (ECG) are very important for the early detection and treatment of heart disorders at an early stage prior to a serious condition occurring. The increasing demand for the continuous monitoring of the ECG signal needs the rapid development of wearable electronic technology. During wearable ECG monitoring, the electrodes are the main components that affect the signal quality and comfort of the user. This review assesses the application of textile electrodes for ECG monitoring from the fundamentals to the latest developments and prospects for their future fate. The fabrication techniques of textile electrodes and their performance in terms of skin–electrode contact impedance, motion artifacts and signal quality are also reviewed and discussed. Textile electrodes can be fabricated by integrating thin metal fiber during the manufacturing stage of textile products or by coating textiles with conductive materials like metal inks, carbon materials, or conductive polymers. The review also discusses how textile electrodes for ECG function via direct skin contact or via a non-contact capacitive coupling. Finally, the current intensive and promising research towards finding textile-based ECG electrodes with better comfort and signal quality in the fields of textile, material, medical and electrical engineering are presented as a perspective.

scholarly journals Clinical Applicability of a Textile 1-Lead ECG Device for Overnight Monitoring

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 2436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piero Fontana ◽  
Neusa R. Adão Martins ◽  
Martin Camenzind ◽  
René M. Rossi ◽  
Florent Baty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Irritation ◽  
Sleep Apnoea ◽  
Interquartile Range ◽  
Signal Quality ◽  
Rr Intervals ◽  
Ecg Signals ◽  
Limited Applicability ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Term Monitoring

Even for 1-lead electrocardiography (ECG), single-use gel conductive electrodes are employed in a clinical setting. However, gel electrodes show limited applicability for long-term monitoring due to skin irritation and detachment. In the present study, we investigated the validity of a textile ECG-belt suitable for long-term measurements in clinical use. In order to assess the signal quality and validity of the ECG-belt during sleep, 242 patients (186 males and 56 females, age 52 (interquartile range 42–60) years, body mass index 29 (interquartile range 26–33) kg·m−2) with suspected sleep apnoea underwent overnight polysomnography including standard 1-lead ECG recording. The single intervals between R-peaks (RR-intervals) were calculated from the ECG-signals. We found a mean difference for average RR-intervals of −2.9 ms, a standard error of estimate of 0.39%, as well as a Pearson r of 0.91. Furthermore, we found that the validity of the ECG-belt decreases when lying on the side, which was potentially due to the fitting of the belt. In conclusion, the validity of RR-interval measurements using the ECG-belt is high and it may be further improved for future applications by optimizing wear fitting.

scholarly journals Ionic Liquid Regenerated Cellulose Membrane Electroless Plated By Silver Layer For ECG Signal Monitoring

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueli Fu ◽  
Yanping Wang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Dan Yu
Keyword(s):  
Ionic Liquid ◽  
Skin Irritation ◽  
Regenerated Cellulose ◽  
Cellulose Membrane ◽  
Ecg Signal ◽  
Contact Impedance ◽  
Skin Contact ◽  
Dry Electrode ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Flexible electrodes have attracted the interest of a wide range of people because they can monitor human health signals like ECG, EMG and EEG as wearable devices. However, PDMS-based membrane electrodes have the problem of difficulty in depositing metal layers, while fabric electrodes have high contact impedance. Furthermore, the widely used Ag/AgCl electrodes have the shortcomings of skin inflammation or skin irritation. Therefore, we fabricate a skin-like electrical conductive electrode via electroless silver plating on the surface of regenerated cellulose membrane, in which the cellulose membrane is obtained by the dissolution of cotton fiber with green solvent ionic liquid [Bmim]Cl. The as-prepared biocompatible electrode with low skin-electrode contact impedance can be used as a dry electrode for a long-term period of use. The impedance at 700 Hz is only 8 kΩ/cm2, and the conductivity can reach 252 s/cm. After 5 hours of wear, the skin contact impedance of the electrode was only 10 kΩ/cm2 under 700 Hz(when AgNO3 was used at a concentration of 0.20 mol/L). Importantly, the electrodes not only provide a stable and clear ECG signal, but also offer a high level of comfort and low impedance, when used for long-term health monitoring.

scholarly journals Washable embroidered textile electrodes for long-term electrocardiography monitoring

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amale Ankhili ◽  
Shahood uz Zaman ◽  
Xuyuan Tao ◽  
Cedric Cochrane ◽  
Vladan Končar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Diseases ◽  
Thermoplastic Polyurethane ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Ecg Signals ◽  
Medical Quality ◽  
Textile Electrodes ◽  
Washing Process ◽  
Encapsulation Process ◽  
Domestic Machine

The improvement of human health condition is an important objective that remains relevant since the origin of human being. Currently, cardiovascular diseases are the first cause of death worldwide. For this reason, permanent real-time monitoring of heart activity (Electrocardiogram: ECG), its analysis and alerting of concerned person is a solution to decrease the death toll provoked by heart diseases. ECG signal of medical quality is necessary for permanent monitoring and accurate heart examining. It can be obtained from instrumented underwear only if it is equipped with high quality, flexible textile based electrodes guaranteeing low contact resistance between the skin and them. This work is therefore devoted to the design and test of wearable textile embroidered bands following defined protocol for ECG long-term monitoring. These bands were investigated in three configurations: band without any adding layer to protect lines between electrodes and the connector, band with lines protected by simple yarn, band with lines protected with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Bands were worn around chest by healthy subjects in a sitting position and ECG signals were acquired by an Arduino-based device and assessed. Washability tests of connected underwear were carried out over 50 washing cycles in a domestic machine and by using a commercial detergent. Influence of encapsulation process on the electrical properties of textile electrodes during repetitive washing process has also been investigated and analyzed. All the ECG signals acquired and recorded have been reviewed by a cardiologist in order to validate their quality required for accurate diagnosis.

scholarly journals A Long-Term, Portable ECG Patch Monitor Based on Flexible Dry Electrode

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Chu ◽  
Chenxi Yang ◽  
Yantao Xing ◽  
Jianqing Li ◽  
Chengyu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Electrode Impedance ◽  
Ecg Monitoring ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Ecg Signals ◽  
Skin Electrode ◽  
Rr Interval ◽  
Dry Electrodes ◽  
Dry Electrode ◽  
And Storage

Abstract PurposeLong-term electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring is an essential approach for the early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. Flexible dry electrodes that contains electrolyte without water could be a potential substitution of wet electrodes for long-term ECG monitoring. Therefore, this paper developes a long-term, portable ECG patch based on flexible dry electrodes, namely SEUECG-100.MethodA device consists of analog-front-end acquisition, data acquisition, and storage modules is developed and tested. An impedance test was conducted to compare the skin-electrode impedance of the flexible dry electrode and the Ag/AgCl wet electrode. The ECG signals were simutanously collected from the same subject using the SEUECG-100 and Shimmer device , which were then compared and analyzed from the perspective of ECG morphology, RR interval, and signal quality indices (SQI).ResultsThe experimental results reveal that the flexible dry electrode has the characteristics of low skin-electrode impedance. SEUECG-100 could collect high-quality ECG signals. The ECG signals collected by the two devices have a high RR interval correlation (r=0.999). SQI results show that SEUECG-100 is better than the Shimmer device in overcoming baseline drift. Long-term ECG acquisition and storage experiments show that SEUECG-100 could collect ECG signals with good stability and high reliability.ConclusionThe implementation of the proposed system design with dry electrodes could can effectively record long-term ECG monitoring with high quality in comparison to systems with wet electrodes from both impedance characteristics and signal morphology aspects.

scholarly journals Development of Washable Silver Printed Textile Electrodes for Long-Term ECG Monitoring

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (21) ◽  
pp. 6233
Author(s):  
Abreha Bayrau Nigusse ◽  
Benny Malengier ◽  
Desalegn Alemu Mengistie ◽  
Granch Berhe Tseghai ◽  
Lieva Van Langenhove
Keyword(s):  
Silver Chloride ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Polyester Fabric ◽  
Signal Quality ◽  
Ecg Monitoring ◽  
Textile Electrodes ◽  
Elastic Strap ◽  
Silver Silver ◽  
Silver Silver Chloride

Long-term electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring is very essential for the early detection and treatment of cardiovascular disorders. However, commercially used silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes have drawbacks, and these become more obvious during long-term signal monitoring, making them inconvenient for this use. In this study, we developed silver printed textile electrodes from knitted cotton and polyester fabric for ECG monitoring. The surface resistance of printed electrodes was 1.64 Ω/sq for cotton and 1.78 Ω/sq for polyester electrodes. The ECG detection performance of the electrodes was studied by placing three electrodes around the wrist where the electrodes were embedded on an elastic strap with Velcro. The ECG signals collected using textile electrodes had a comparable waveform to those acquired using standard Ag/AgCl electrodes with a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 33.10, 30.17, and 33.52 dB for signals collected from cotton, polyester, and Ag/AgCl electrodes, respectively. The signal quality increased as the tightness of the elastic strap increased. Signals acquired at 15 mmHg pressure level with the textile electrodes provided a similar quality to those acquired using standard electrodes. Interestingly, the textile electrodes gave acceptable signal quality even after ten washing cycles.

Health Effects of Oil Mists: A Brief Review

1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl R. Mackerer
Keyword(s):  
Health Effects ◽  
Metal Cutting ◽  
Human Cancer ◽  
Health Effect ◽  
Skin Irritation ◽  
Cutting Fluid ◽  
Cutting Fluids ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Skin Contact

Metal cutting/grinding fluids are of three basic types: straight oil (insoluble), oil-in-water emulsions (soluble) and synthetic/semi-synthetic. All contain a variety of additives to improve performance. Human exposure occurs primarily by direct skin contact with the liquid or by skin and respiratory contact after fluid misting. Dermatitis caused by primary or direct skin irritation is the most prevalent health effect of exposure to cutting fluids. Occasionally allergic dermatitis is seen which is related to the development of sensitization to one or more of the additive components. Recent studies indicate that long-term exposure to cutting fluids does not result in increased incidences of lung cancer, urinary bladder cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, or death from non-malignant respiratory diseases. Long-term exposure to certain cutting fluids, however, is believed to have resulted in certain types of skin cancer, especially scrotal cancer. It is likely that these carcinogenic responses were caused by contact with polycyclic aromatic compounds (PCA) of 3–7 rings. Modern base oils which are severely refined have very low levels of PCA, are not carcinogenic in animal bioassays, and are unlikely to be carcinogenic in man. This is not necessarily true for re-refined oils which may contain significant levels of PCA and polychlorinated biphenyls derived from coming-ling used cutting oils with used engine oils and transformer oils. Cutting oils, themselves, generally do not accumulate significant levels of carcinogenic PCA during use. Additives, in theory, can cause a variety of health effects either directly or through the generation of reaction products such as nitrosamines. In actual use, adverse health effects appear to be limited to occasional instances of allergic contact dermatitis. Nitrosamines are extremely carcinogenic in test animals; although no human cancer cases directly attributable to nitrosamine contamination have been observed, nitrosating agents and amines should not be combined in cutting fluid formulations. It is difficult to anticipate or predict the potential toxicity of a particular cutting fluid formulation because of the presence of variable amounts of proprietary additives which, themselves, are often complex reaction mixtures. Thus, each additive and final formulation must be evaluated on a case by case basis to appropriately assess potential health hazards.

Soft Conductive Polymer Dry Electrodes for High-Quality and Comfortable ECG/EEG Measurements

2014 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 102-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Hsuan Chen ◽  
Maaike Op de Beeck ◽  
Luc Vanderheyden ◽  
Kris Vanstreels ◽  
Herman Vandormael ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Irritation ◽  
Conductive Polymer ◽  
Hard Metal ◽  
Motion Artifacts ◽  
Patient Comfort ◽  
Signal Quality ◽  
Electrode Impedance ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Dry Electrode ◽  
User Comfort

Wet gel electrodes are widely used for ECG/EEG monitoring, their low impedance results in high-quality signals. But they have important drawbacks too, such as time-consuming electrode set-up for EEG followed by a painful removal, skin irritation by the gel and signal degradation due to gel drying. Hence various dry electrode types are investigated, such as hard metal electrodes with low impedance but limited patient comfort/safety. We focus on flexible conductive polymer-based electrodes to combine low impedance, user comfort and safety. The composition of the conductive polymers is optimized to improve various properties such as conductivity, which directly affects signal quality and sensitivity to motion artifacts, and mechanical properties of the electrodes, important with respect to patient comfort. Electrode impedance and ECG/EEG signal recordings are evaluated using various polymer compositions and compared to wet gel electrode results. Additive optimization to improve processability of the conductive formulations is performed by dedicated flow studies, and will result in a high electrode fabrication yield. Very promising results are obtained regarding impedance, EEG/ECG signal quality and user comfort.

Soft Dry Electrodes for Electrocardiogram with Conductive Silver Nanowires

2014 ◽  
Vol 1685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Myers ◽  
Yong Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Silver Chloride ◽  
Silver Nanowires ◽  
Skin Irritation ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Skin Impedance ◽  
Ecg Signals ◽  
Dry Electrode ◽  
Silver Silver

ABSTRACTWith increasing attention towards long-term health monitoring, there is a pressing need to create noninvasive sensors that monitor vital bioelectronic signals. Particular importance is placed on measuring electrocardiogram (ECG) signals as heart issues are widespread and can be prevented with the proper warning and care of potential problems. Currently, ECGs are taken in a hospital setting using disposable silver-silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) pre-gelled electrodes. Unfortunately, this cannot translate to a long-term monitoring setting due to the electrolytic gel of the electrodes drying and causing skin irritation. This paper presents a soft, skin-mountable dry electrode based on silver nanowires (AgNWs) for measuring ECG signals that can be used in long-term, wearable health monitoring due to the elimination of the electrolytic gel. The AgNWs are embedded in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which creates a robust design that will not suffer from delamination or cracking problems that can eventually lead to loss of conductivity. The electrode is characterized by electrode-skin impedance as a function of frequency and by the surface resistance as the electrode is stretched. The performance of the dry electrode is evaluated and comparable to that of conventional Ag/AgCl electrodes. The ability of the dry electrode to conform to skin is believed to compensate for the lack of an electrolytic gel.

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