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Electronics in Bioelectrical
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Lecture 6 part 1 – Patient safety II
Sari Ahokas
sari.ahokas@tut.fi
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Tampere University of Technology
Spring 2011
Total safety = safety of the device and its use + environmental safety
(effect of the environment)
safety factors
• protection against excess current and voltage
• leakage voltage, isolation
• Insulation
• minimize the incidence of human errors
• Availability of electric power
Potential difference required for current to flow (e.g. unprotected part with
voltage + grounded part)
Skin impedance
• Dependens on current path, voltage, duration, frequency, skin resistance,
area, individuals, …
• Resistance of the skin: Webster: “For 1cm2 of electronic contact with dry,
intact skin, resistance may range from 15k to almost 1M , depending on
the part of the body and the moisture or sweat present.”
• For wet or broken skin resistance down to 1%
• Internal resistance only 100-200
• Electrodes, catheters, electronic thermometers, etc. make patient more
vulnerable to macroshocks
Flowing current is voltage divided by the total resistance between two contact
points
Grounding the chassis the resistance through the ground line is much lower
than the skin impedance
usually the leakage current flows from the case to the ground through the stray
capacitance.
When the ground connection is broken, the leakage current can become
dangerous to the patient
A. Power distribution
B. Equipment design
Effective grounding
• three-wire receptacles (additional insulated ground for patient care areas)
• In critical care: every exposed conducting areas close to the patient must be grounded
(single ground point)
• Continuity of the ground wire must be regularly tested
• thick grounding cables decrease the resistance
Reduction of leakage current
• in chassis and in patient-leads
• proper insulation between hot wire and chassis
Double-insulated equipment
• normal insulation between energized conductors and the chassis
• secondary insulation between the chassis and outer surface
in case of ground fault the outer surface can not be energized to hazardous potential
electrical isolation
• isolated preamplifier breaks the ohmic contact between the input
and output of the amplifier
• Different supply voltages and GND
Proper design
Good power distribution
Periodic testing
Training programs for medical personnel