Design of a Solar-Powered Portable ECG Device with Optimal Power Consumption and High Accuracy Measurement

Abstract

One of the best ways to monitor the health of the heart is to regularly record its electrical activity by using an electrocardiogram (ECG). Abnormal ECG signals may indicate conditions such as heart attack, arrhythmia, or heart defects. There are many ECG devices available which can detect and amplify this differential biological signal from the heart, allowing a lot of information to be collected quickly. The ECG is often small and easy to use, but its power is supplied from regular batteries, which need to be replaced after a certain period of use. This causes discomfort for elderly users. To overcome this limitation, in this paper, we aim to develop a solar-powered, portable Bluetooth device for ECG measurements. The device can be interfaced with smartphones or other wireless devices via Bluetooth by a distance up to 100 m. The ECG device was designed to use solar energy, which is also the main power source. Following the solar energy harvesting circuit is a solar panel with an output voltage of 2.4 V and a power out of 0.25 W. We optimized the design to have a very low power consumption and in sleep mode the current consumption is only around 40 µA. The device was designed with 24-bit resolution and a sampling frequency of up to 2133 Hz, which can allow high accuracy ECG measurements. The device is not only used for heart rate monitoring, but it can also assist doctors in analyzing ECG signals with a high accuracy via embedded operating software.