• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.844-853
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• 2015

Recently, according to change of lifestyle and increase of concerning in health, needs of the smart clothing based on the vital sign monitoring have increased. Along with this trend, smart clothing for ECG monitoring has been studied various way as textile electrode, clothing design and so on. Smart clothing for ECG monitoring can become a comfortable system which enables continuous vital sign monitoring in daily use. But, smart clothing for ECG monitoring has a weakness on artifact during motion. One of the motion artifact caused by shifting of the electrode position was affected skin change by motion. The aim of this study was to suggest electrode locations for clothing of ECG monitoring to reduce of motion artifacts. Therefore, change of skin surface during the movement were measured and analyzed in order to find location to minimize motion artifacts in ECG monitoring clothing by 3D motion capture. For the experiment, the subjects consisted of 5 males and 5 females in their 20' with average physique. As a result, the optimal location for ECG monitoring was deducted under the bust line and scapula which have least motion artifact. These locations were abstracted to be least affected by movement in this research.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.1186-1193
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• 2009

Wearable ECG monitoring is regarded as one of the most essential part in the ubiquitous healthcare environment and subsequently day-life monitoring of a heart condition has been pursued especially for the elder people. However, there are many problems to accomplish this task such as; i) implementation of long-term monitoring device, ii) development of non-irritating electrode on skin and iii) stable signal acquisition. With these aims, we have focused on implementing a non-irritating electrode with an endurable monitoring device for day-life. To accomplish our tasks, we basically developed four different types of textile electrodes that are adapted by both shape and the composed material; flat or convex shape and Ag-conductive paste material or not. It turns out to be that a convex shape and Ag-paste textile electrode has the best performance in terms of both signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and Impedance/Phase characteristics. Furthermore, ECG amplifier (35 ${\times}$ 35 mm) has developed to resolve the ECG signal and transfer the signal to desktop computing device or portable one by RF serial communication.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.112-125
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• 2010

A Holter monitor is used for ECG monitoring of ambulatory daily life in hospital. However, the use of this apparatus causes skin allergies and discomfort in patients because of the attachment gel and tapes used to attach disposable electrodes to the skin. In this study, the development of tight-fitting clothing connected to a portable Holter monitor was proposed. In addition, the use of conductive fabrics as electrodes was proposed; this will enable the use of garments in u-health care for measuring ECG signals. The male subjects were university students in the ages of 20 to 24. Subjective wear sensations of the experimental garments were rated using seven Likert scales. A Likert type scale was used for the evaluation and a 7 point score indicates that it provided the best fit as a tight-fitting upper clothing. Clothing pressure was measured using an air-pack-type pressure sensor (model AMI 3037-2) at 4 locations (the conductive fabric electrode) As results, a male basic sloper for upper clothing was developed and that pattern was manipulated to the tight fit pattern by considering the reduction rate of the percentage stretch in the fabric. The developed tight-fitting garment was superior in terms of subjective sensation and 6t. The mean pressure of the garment with reduction rates of 40% in width and of 50% in length was 8.45gf/$cm^2$. A conductive fabric electrode was developed by considering the sewing method and the developed electrode was detected well. The ECG data were recorded for 13 hr 19 min 44 sec and the artifacts in the ECG signals were recorded for 9 hr 3 min 46 sec (total time: 22 hr 23 min 23 sec). The artifacts data were obtained during heavy activities.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2012

The indirect-contact ECG measurement is a newly developed method for unconstrained and nonconscious measurement in daily Life. This study is the first step to reducing the large background noise appearing in indirect-contact ECG. This study built the thermal noise model of capacitively coupled active electrode which is used in indirect-contact ECG. The results show that the level of thermal noise estimated by the thermal noise model is much the same as that of actual background noise for the capacitively coupled active electrode alone. By applying the actual electrical properties of a sample cotton cloth to the thermal noise model, the theoretical level of thermal noise in the indirect-contact ECG was estimated. The results also show that the level of op-amp's intrinsic noise is so small that it can be negligible in comparison with thermal noise of resistors. The relationship between the level of thermal noise and the resistance of the bias resistor was derived, and it is the base for the further study how to choice the optimal resistance for the bias resistor.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 2018

This study reviews the common-mode noise model of indirect-contact ECG measurement which uses capacitive electrode and capacitive ground, and shows the reason of the large common-mode noise in indirect-contact ECG. And then, this study shows driven-right-leg ground in indirect-contact ECG measurement, and reviews how the driven-right-leg ground reduces the common-mode noise. This study then analyzes the relation between the effective area of the indirect-contact ground and the gain of the driven-right-leg circuit. This study introduces the output voltage saturation of the driven-right-leg circuit, which occurs frequently in indirect-contact ECG measurement with the condition of the high ground impedance. This study then shows the effect of the driven-right-leg circuit saturation on the common-mode noise.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.419-426
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• 2008

In order to develop "textile electrode - sensing clothing" which is a sort of smart clothing to measure electric activities of heart, we propose possible ways to develop textile electrode and design of sensing clothing, ultimately aiming to develop "ECG sensing clothing for lifestyle monitoring". Conventional sensors for measuring typical electric activities of heart keep certain distance between measuring electrodes to measure signals for electric activities of heart, but these sensors often cause inappropriate factors (e.g. motional artifacts, inconvenience of use, etc) for monitoring natural cardiac activities in our daily life. In addition, most of textile electrodes have made it difficult to collect data due to high impedance and unstable contact between skin and electrodes. To overcome these questions, we minimized distance between electrodes and skin to maximize convenience of use. And in order to complement contact between skin electrodes, we modified textile electrode's form and developed ways to design clothing. As a result, we could find out clinical significance by investigating possible associations of clinical electrocardiogram (ECG) with variation of distance between electrodes, and could also demonstrate clinically significant associations between textile electrode developed herein and clothing.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.201-206
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• 2012

The indirect-contact ECG measurement is a newly developed method for unconstrained and nonconscious measurement in daily life. This study introduced a new method of electrode circuit design developed for reducing the 60Hz power line noise observed at the indirect-contact ECG measurement. By the introduced common-mode-driven shielding, the voltage of the electrical shield surrounding the capacitive coupling electrode is maintained at the same as the common mode voltage. Though the method cannot reduce the level of common mode voltage itself, that reduces effectively the differential mode noise converted from the common mode voltage by the difference of cloth impedance between the two capacitive coupling electrode. The experiment results using the actual indirect-contact ECG showed that the 60Hz power line noise was reduced remarkably though the reduction ratio was smaller than the expected by the theory. Especially, the reduction ratio became large for the large difference of cloth. It is expected that the introduced method is useful for reducing the power line noise under condition of poor electrical grounding.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.432-440
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• 2023

This study introduces an efficient readout circuit designed for two-electrode electrocardiogram (ECG) recording, characterized by its low-noise and low-power consumption attributes. Unlike its three-electrode counterpart, the two-electrode ECG is susceptible to common-mode interference (CMI), causing signal distortion. To counter this, the proposed circuit integrates a common-mode charge pump (CMCP) with a window comparator, allowing for a CMI tolerance of up to 20 V_PP. The CMCP design prevents the activation of electrostatic discharge (ESD) diodes and becomes operational only when CMI surpasses the predetermined range set by the window comparator. This ensures power efficiency and minimizes intermodulation distortion (IMD) arising from switching noise. To maintain ECG signal accuracy, the circuit employs a chopper-stabilized instrumentation amplifier (IA) for low-noise attributes, and to achieve high input impedance, it incorporates a floating high-pass filter (HPF) and a current-feedback instrumentation amplifier (CFIA). This comprehensive design integrates various components, including a QRS peak detector and serial peripheral interface (SPI), into a single 0.18-㎛ CMOS chip occupying 0.54 mm². Experimental evaluations showed a 0.59 µV_RMS noise level within a 1-100 Hz bandwidth and a power draw of 23.83 µW at 1.8 V.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.42-45
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• 2015

The ability to take electrocardiographic measurements while performing our daily activities has become the people-choice for modern age vital sign sensing. Currently, wet and dry ECG electrodes are known to pose threats like inflammations, allergic reactions, and metal poisoning due to their direct skin interaction. Therefore, the main goal in this work is to implement a very small ECG sensor system with a capacitive coupling, which is able to detect electrical signals of heart at a distance without the conductive gel. The aim of this paper is to design, implement, and characterize the contactless ECG electrodes. Under a careful consideration of factors that affect a capacitive electrode functional integrity, several different sizes of ECG electrodes were designed and tested with a pilot ECG device. A very small cotton-insulated copper tape electrode ($2.324cm^2$) was finally attained that could detect and measure bioelectric signal at about 500 um of distance from the subject's chest.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2015

In this study, we implemented an unconstraint ECG monitoring system on a chair. Nowadays, modern people spend most of their time sitting on the chair. Therefore, it is necessary to have an unconstraint ECG monitoring system that can be used for a long time. The implemented system can perform measurement even with clothes on and it has great advantage on motion artifacts. A pair of unconstraint electrodes are placed on the back of the chair. Amplifier and filters are designed to remove motion artifacts, The baseline noise and power line noise are filtered and very low level of bio-signal is amplified to give a final measurement. Control unit and wireless transmission unit are implemented. Analog signal is converted into digital signal and transmits biological signal to the PC and the smart phone. Therefore continuous ECG monitoring in daily life is made possible. A comparison experiment between Ag / AgCl electrode and unconstraint electrode is conducted to evaluate the performance of the implemented system. As a result, we confirm our unconstraint system can be used for daily life ECG monitoring.