An electronically integrated load cell [for monitoring pressures of orthotic braces]

Author

Lou, Edmond ; Raso, V. James ; Durdle, Nelson G. ; Hill, Doug L.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Alberta Univ., Edmonton, Alta., Canada

Volume

47

Issue

2

fYear

1998

fDate

4/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

551

Lastpage

553

Abstract

An electronically integrated strain-gauge load cell has been developed for monitoring pressures between orthotic braces and the human body for adolescents who have spinal deformities. This load cell has a built in amplifier and low-pass filter. High signal-to-noise ratio, temperature compensation, low power consumption and cost effectiveness are the major advantages of this design. The maximum load for this cell is 110 cm of water (approximately 20 N). Laboratory tests have established that the nonlinearity and hysteresis are less than ±2.5%, and the signal to noise ratio is greater than 70 dB. This paper describes both the structure and the operational principles of the load cell, and presents the calibration results

Keywords

biomechanics; biomedical measurement; biomedical transducers; bridge instruments; calibration; instrumentation amplifiers; orthotics; patient monitoring; pressure measurement; strain gauges; strain measurement; Wheatstone bridge; adolescents with spinal deformities; biomechanics; built in amplifier; calibration; cost effectiveness; electronically integrated load cell; high signal-to-noise ratio; human body; hysteresis; instrumentation amplifier; low power consumption; low-pass filter; nonlinearity; portable measurement system; pressure monitoring; pressures between orthotic braces; strain-gauge load cell; temperature compensation; Costs; Energy consumption; Humans; Laboratories; Low pass filters; Monitoring; Orthotics; Signal design; Signal to noise ratio; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/19.744204

Filename

744204