title: Estimation of stray coupling capacitances in biopotential measurements.
abstract: Biopotential measurements are very sensitive to electromagnetic interference (EMI) from power-lines. Interference conditions are mainly imposed by electric-field coupling, whose effects can be described by coupling capacitances. The main of them are the patient-to-ground and the patient-to-power-line capacitances, usually denoted as C(B) and C(P), respectively. A technique to estimate these elements and experimental data obtained in different environmental conditions are presented. It was found that C(B) ranges from hundreds of pF to nF, and C(P) from hundredths of pF to few pF. The presented technique also lets it know the small amplifier-to-ground and amplifier-to-power-line capacitances. The knowledge of all these capacitances allows estimating the EMI conditions that biopotential amplifiers can be subject to, thus, resulting useful data for specifying their design requirements and constraints in real working conditions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Industrial Electronics, Control and Instrumentation (LEICI), University of La Plata, CC 91, 1900 La Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haberman
authors.forename: Augusto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cassino
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spinelli
mesh_terms: D000669:Amplifiers, Electronic; D016477:Artifacts; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004568:Electrodiagnosis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological