Simulations of piezoelectric pressure sensor for radial artery pulse measurement

A radial artery pulse is used to diagnose human body constitution (Prakruti) in Ayurveda. A system consisting of piezoelectric sensor (22 mm x 12 mm), data acquisition card and LabView software was used to record the pulse data. The pulse obtained from the sensor was noisy, even though signal processing was done. Moreover due to large sized senor accurate measurements were not possible. Hence, a need was felt to develop a sensor of the size of the order of finger tip with a resonant frequency of the order of 1 Hz. A micromachined pressure sensor based on piezoelectric sensing mechanism was designed and simulated using CoventorWare. Simulations were carried out by varying dimensions of the sensor to optimize the resonant frequency, stresses and voltage generated as a function of applied pressure. All simulations were done with pressure ranging of 1-30 kPa, which is the range used by Ayurvedic practitioners for diagnosis. Preliminary work on fabrication of such a sensor was carried out successfully. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.