FINAL PROJECT REPORT

Human Heart Modelling using Hydro Electro

Mechanical Systems
COURSE
SYSTEMS AND CONTROL THEORY
Spring 2014

Under the guidance of
Dr. Wilfrido Moreno, Ph.D. Electrical Engineering Professor
Presented by
Mr. Magendran Mathivanan
(UID : U29552115)
Abstract:-
This paper introduces a new mathematical modelling of human heart as a hydro electro
mechanical system (HEMS). This paper simulates the human heart based on three main functions:
hydraulic, electrical and mechanical parameters. Hydro-mechanical model developed then has been
transformed into electrical domain and simulation has been carried out according to the mathematical
model or formulations obtained using Laplace transform. This electrical model / circuit is then tested by
MATLAB based simulations and results found are comparable with the normal ECG waveforms so that
these simulated results may be useful in clinical experiments. In this model basic electrical components
have been used to simulate the physiological functions of the human heart. The result is a simple
electrical circuit consisting of main electrical parameters that are transformed from hydraulic models and
medical physiological values. Developed MATLAB based mathematical model will primarily help to
understand the proper functioning of an artificial heart and its simulated ECG signals. A comprehensive
model for generating a wide variety of such signals has been targeted for future in this paper. This
research especially focuses on modelling human heart as a hydroelectro-mechanical system with three
case studies.


List of Figures Page .No
1. Fig 1. Morphology of a mean PQRST-complex
of an ECG recorded from a normal human. ..3
2. Fig 2. The compartmental electrical model of
hydro electro mechanical system (HEMS) ...4
3. Fig 3. Compartmental Hydro Electro Mechanical System ...4
4. Fig 4. The ECG output of the Simulink model I ...8
5. Fig 5. The response of State Space Model. ...9
6. Fig 6. The step response of State Space model .10
7. Fig 7. The ECG output of the Simulink model II .10
8. Fig 8. The response of State Space Model. 11
9. Fig 9. The step response of State Space model 12
List of Tables Page .No
1. Table 1. The system parameters and their units ..5
2. Table 2. Parameters associated with different pressures and valves ..7
3. Table 3. Table comparing Simulation Values ..12
CONTENT Page .No
Abstract
List of figures
List of tables
Introduction .1
System Model .4
Equations governing the model .6
Results .8
Case I .8
Case II .11
Conclusion .13
Bibliography
Appendix A: SIMULINK Files
Appendix B: Copy of the Paper


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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Heart disease is the main cause of death worldwide, especially in the developed and developing
countries. Treatments of such diseases have various forms, from the simplest such as following
appropriate diets to very complex and dangerous forms such as heart transplantation. Due to
improvements in technology, it is possible to find out new opportunities, for example new medical assist
devices or predictive medical instruments which help to be aware of the dangerous situations to occur in
due time to our health. To realize such goals since the 1960s, various mathematical modeling of human
heart have been studied using physical models of the real systems as the reference domain. Mathematical
models have been widely used in the simulation of cardiovascular systems. The human cardiovascular
system is highly complex and involves many control mechanisms. The model of Windkessel is a famous
example of such a discrete model. Although computer analysis of numerical models have taken the place
of the physical models in many cases, physical electrical models are still indispensable in testing the
reliability, functionality and the control of human cardiovascular system. Short term heart rate control is
mainly mediated by the central nervous system. Danielsons research group integrated the mathematical
models of nervous systems with the Windkessel model, to investigate the control mechanism of the heart
in a different way. To replace the functions of real human heart for a limited time, artificial heart pumps
have been used. This pump mainly replaces left ventricular failure. Three generations of pumps are
present: pulsatile pumps, rotary pumps with contact bearing and rotary pumps with noncontact bearing.
The last developed pump as an artificial heart assist device is a magnetically levitated axial flow heart
pump.
An electromechanical biventricular model, which couples the electrical property and mechanical
property of the heart, has been constructed and the right ventricular wall motion and deformation have
been simulated. The excitation propagation has been simulated by electrical heart model, and the resultant
active forces have been used to study the ventricular wall motion during systole. The simulation results
are found to be compatible with the models theoretical results. It suggests that such electromechanical
biventricular model can be used to assess the mechanical function of two ventricles as well. A third-order
model of the cardiovascular system designed to illustrate biological system simulation has been described.
The model is considered to be extremely simple which allows concentrating on the simulation and
computation dimensions but not on the physiological complexity. Heart pumping action is derived from a
variable capacitor, and the systemic circulation is modeled as an RC filter. With the rapid development of
computer and medical image technology, finite element method (FEM) has become one of the main tools
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to study cardiovascular mechanics as well. A third-order model of the cardiovascular system uses real
geometric shape and fiber structure with a 3-D finite element biventricular model.
Electrocardiography is the recording of the electrical activity of the heart. Traditionally this is in
the form of a trans thoracic (across the thorax or chest) interpretation of the electrical activity of
the heart over a period of time, as detected by electrodes attached to the surface of the skin and recorded
or displayed by a device external to the body. The recording produced by this noninvasive procedure is
termed an electrocardiogram (also ECG or EKG). It is possible to record ECGs invasively using
an implantable loop recorder.
An ECG is used to measure the hearts electrical conduction system. It picks up electrical
impulses generated by the polarization and depolarization of cardiac tissue and translates into a
waveform. The waveform is then used to measure the rate and regularity of heartbeats, as well as the size
and position of the chambers, the presence of any damage to the heart, and the effects of drugs or devices
used to regulate the heart, such as a pacemaker.
A single sinus (normal) cycle of the ECG, corresponding to one heartbeat, is traditionally labeled with the
letters P, Q, R, S, and T on each of its turning points (Fig. 1). The ECG may be divided into the following
sections.
P-wave: A small low-voltage deflection away from the baseline caused by the depolarization of the atria
prior to atrial contraction as the activation (depolarization) wave front propagates from the SA node
through the atria.
PQ-interval: The time between the beginning of atrial depolarization and the beginning of ventricular
depolarization.
QRS-complex: The largest-amplitude portion of the ECG, caused by currents generated when the
ventricles depolarize prior to their contraction. Although atrial repolarization occurs before ventricular
depolarization, the latter waveform (i.e. the QRS-complex) is of much greater amplitude and atrial
repolarization is therefore not seen on the ECG.
QT-interval: The time between the onset of ventricular depolarization and the end of ventricular
repolarization. Clinical studies have demonstrated that the QT-interval increases linearly as the RR-
interval increases . Prolonged QT-interval may be associated with delayed ventricular repolarization
which may cause ventricular tacky arrhythmias leading to sudden cardiac death .
ST-interval: The time between the end of S-wave and the beginning of T-wave. Significantly elevated or
depressed amplitudes away from the baseline are often associated with cardiac illness.
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T-wave: Ventricular repolarization, whereby the cardiac muscle is prepared for the next cycle of the
ECG.

Fig 1. Morphology of a mean PQRST-complex of an ECG recorded from a normal human.
Baroreceptors, although well established, have been investigated extensively. The goal of such
research is to understand the mechanisms of the total artificial heart and obtain a better mathematical
model as well as a simple physical analog model of the total artificial heart.








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CHAPTER 2
SYSTEM MODEL
The Hydro Electro Mechanical System(HEMS) model developed is given in Fig. 2 below. The
model is based on symmetry property of human cardiovascular and circulatory system and is made of two
parallel equivalent circuits.

Fig 2. The compartmental electrical model of hydro electro mechanical system (HEMS)

The compartmental electrical model of Yalcinkaya, Kizilkaplan and Erbas with the defined
system parameters (hydraulic and electrical parameters and their units) are given:-

Fig 3. Compartmental Hydro Electro Mechanical System
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The parameters related to the diagram and their respective units are described in the tables
below:-


Table 1. The system parameters and their units













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EQUATION GOVERNING THE MODEL:-

The HEMS model is represented by the following equations with the boundary conditions taken
into account:-

QA (t) =QA1 (t) + QM (t), QM (t) = QB (t) + QC (t),
QB (t) = QB1(t) +QBO (t) + QM1 (t), QM1 (t) = QD1 (t) + QDO (t) +QX (t),
QC (t)= QC1 (t) + QCO (t) + QM2 (t), QM2 (t) = QE1 (t) + QEO (t) + QY (t),
QF (t) = QX (t) + QY (t), and QF (t) = QF0 (t) + QF1 (t)

Writing the first leg of equations from the fig 2,
P1 (t) + P2 (t) + P4 (t) + P6 (t) = PIN (t)
Substituting the values of internal parameters, we derive:

Differentiating on both sides:

Applying Laplace transforms on both sides:



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Similarly considering the second leg from fig 2,
P1 (t) + P3 (t) + P5 (t) + P6 (t) = PIN (t)
Substituting the values of internal parameters, we derive:

Differentiating on both sides:

Applying Laplace transformation,

The following table gives the parameters associated with different pressures and valves:

Table 2. Parameters associated with different pressures and valves

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CHAPTER 3
RESULTS
The model was simulated using MATLAB Simulink to assess its ability to reproduce the ECG
signal of the heart. The model is simulated with the mentioned parameters and the ECG signal derived is
as shown:
3.1 SIMULINK
Based on the mathematical formulation obtained, by using the MATLAB simulation facility, case study
have been done. The system is made of four main elements with their mathematical models defined
separately; the main elements are the pacemaker, heart, sensor and circulatory system.
While the circulatory system and the pace maker have the same transfer function, the transfer
function of heart changes according to the state of heart and hence the sensing signal changes its value.
Case I:-
The Laplace transform of the heart defined by Q
A
(s) / P
IN
(s) is

Result:-

Fig 4. The ECG output of the Simulink model I
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This signal is similar to the original ECG signal.
The State space representation is of the12th order due to the degree of the main elements:-

; C = [ 0 0.0028 0.0947 0.3208 0.9799 1.8681 2.3521 2.4264 1.7653 0.8806 0.3362 0.0297];
The State space model is constructed in Simulink and the model is run. The output is compared to the
output of above Simulink model.
The output is similar to the above graph:

Fig 5 The response of State Space Model.






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The step response of the A, B, C, D Parameters derived :

Fig 6. The step response of State Space model
Case II:-
The Laplace transform of the heart defined by Q
A
(s) / P
IN
(s) is

Result:-
The output we get:-

Fig 7. The ECG output of Simulink model II








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The State space representation is:

; C = [0 0.0143 0.1754 0.5870 1.6744 3.0596 3.8056 3.8457 2.7617 1.3747 0.5148 0.0493];
The State space model is constructed in Simulink and the model is run. The output is compared to the
output of above Simulink model.

Fig 8. The response of State Space Model.





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The step response of the state space equations is as follows:-

Fig 9. The step response of State Space model


The parameters of the ECG signals are calculated and tabulated as follows:
Parameters Simulation-1 Simulation-2
P-wave
0.069 sec No P-wave
QT-interval
0.3749 sec 0.38 sec
PR- interval
0.20 sec No PR- interval
QRS-complex
0.139 sec 0.15 sec
T-wave
0.175 sec 0.20 sec

Table 3. Table comparing Simulation Values









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CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSION
In the past many mathematical models of the heart have been developed using different
softwares. The motion of the heart wall, cardiac electrical deformations are some of them used to describe
the simulation results of the system. Simple cardio models are designed to demonstrate the simulations of
the biological system. The computer results are close enough to the physiological data so that verification
of the model is possible.
This project is based on the mathematical modelling of human heart as a Hydro Electro
Mechanical System (HEMS). The MATLAB simulation results agree well with the data obtained from
clinical studies. The models, case studies have been developed and tested with good feedbacks. The
system is made of a reference signal, a pacemaker, an artificial heart, a group of sensors and a circulatory
system. The results are given in the tables and figures above. The P wave was very negligible in the first
simulation and almost zero in the second simulation; this needs more attention for future case studies. The
simulation results produce sharp RS complex which needs investigation in term of simulation parameters
as real RS complex do not possess sharp curve characteristics. The four building blocks used in
simulations have to be improved as the ECG is not only a result of proper functioning of heart but also
needs proper and parallel functions of circulatory and cardiovascular subsystems of human whole
biological system.











Bibliography
1. L. Xia, M. Huo, F. Lio, B. He, and S. Crozier, Motion Analysis of Right Ventricular Wall
Based on an Electromechanical Biventricular Model, Proceedings of the 26th Annual
International Conference of the IEEE EMBS San Francisco, CA, USA, September 1-5, 2004.

2. A.M. Cook, J.G. Simes, A Simple Heart Model Designed to Demonstrate Biological System
Simulation, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Vol. Rme-19,No. 2, March 1972.

3. Y. Wu, P.E. Allaire, G. Tao, D. Olsen, Modeling, Estimation, and Control of Human
Circulatory System With a Left Ventricular Assist Device, IEEE Transactions on Control
Systems Technology, Vol. 15, No. 4, July 2007.

4. W. Shi, M.-S. Chew, Mathematical and Physical Models of a Total Artificial Heart, IEEE
International Conference on Control and Automation, Christchurch, New Zealand, December 9-
11, 2009.

5. E.H. Maslen, G.B. Bearnson, P.E. Allaire, R.D. Flack, M. Baloh, E. Hilton, M.D. Noh, D.B.
Olsen, P.S. Khanwilkar, J.D. Long, Feedback Control Applications in Artificial Hearts, IEEE
Control Systems Magazine, Vol.18, No.6, pp.26-34, December 1998.
APPENDICES:
SIMULINK Models:
1) Simulink model of heart

2) State Space model