ELECTRONİC
TEXTILES
An appreciation
of the advancement made in the smart
performance and application of textile articles is definitely interesting for those learning and working in the areas of smart
textiles, and at the same time it indicates the directions
currently pursued in smart textile research
and development.
The unique combination
of properties like flexibility, softness, permeability, strength, thermal, and electrical
resistance of textiles provides several reasons to attract
the innovation interest for research
and development. Such combination of properties is not seen in several other materials
including metal, ceramic, plastic, wood, glass, paper etc.
It has resulted in attractive interdisciplinary applications of textiles where electronic textiles are setting
interesting examples. The time has come when user will
see the electronics
that are wearable and water-
washable.
Electronic textiles (e- textiles) are the
textile fabrics with electronics and interconnections woven in their structure. They possess the physical
flexibility and size not known in conventional electronics. Components and interconnections are intrinsic to
the fabric structure with reduced chance to be seen, tangled
together or snagged by the
surroundings. Thinking for electronics that can be draped over a vehicle or a tank is achievable using textile fabrics.
The use of fabric
as station to deploy electrical components results in wearable electrical/ computing devices. It makes easier
to move with
computing devices with less consumption
of human energy and efforts. Moreover
the flexibility of fabric provides the opportunity to modify the
shape for conforming new requirements of applications. The relative position
of components including sensors, actuators, processing elements can be altered.
Research studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
indicated that future studies and advancement in the area of electronic
textiles would introduce numerous applications ranging from simple computing
devices to advanced protective and sensing textiles.
Embedded system technologies and smart materials can be integrated and interfaced in e- textiles; such design will
accommodate hardware and software applications.
The design process
of an e- textile should appreciate the complexity, cost, and effectiveness of system. This process
must be based on a set of percept derived from the experience
and developing concepts. Software/ hardware architecture of an e- textile using defined percept
would facilitate the future research,
and produce applicable models. An understanding of theories, fabrics, embedded conductive threads/ fibres, and the
connections in electronics and fabric are
significant in producing a prototype.
Computing elements, sensors, and actuators
can be seamlessly configured
in known textile products such as shirts, hats, parachutes,
and blankets. Sophisticated fibre technology is introducing new fibres that
may function as batteries, durable wires, and speakers.
The current research and innovation
in e- textiles is addressing
the matters in computing the infrastructure,
and examining the applications. An example is the acoustic beam former
that senses the presence of a large vehicle and report
its position and direction of motion. The system
receives acoustic data through microphones
and processes it, and communicates the result to
outside world or peer system.
Electronics and computer
peripherals are now start coming
in market and a stream of electronic items is expected to emerge
that are soft, compact, flexible and portable.
There are two areas where
textiles and electronics are taking the directions.
First the smart textile interface
fabrics are adding value in electronics. In the other area,
electronics are enhancing the functional
textiles; for example the sensor
and communication technology are used in protective wear, out door
sports, children wear, and medical
applications.
he idea of developing wearable computer can be more simplified through the advancement
in e- textiles; and from kids to
officers- all may hope to
see light- weight, comfortable, and easy- to-
wear clothing in the market using in- built CPU. Light- weight laptop system
can be made even lighter when replacing
plastic key boards with smart
fabric key board.
Smart fabric control
devices are increasingly becoming the part of electronic
items, and offer added value
in the performance for the end-
user. The patented achievement of Eleksen called 'Eleck Tex®'
is a laminate of textile fabric layers (
ElekTexR technology can be used
by the product
designers to produce control for electronic devices that are
soft, light weight, flexible, washable, and wearable.
Its applications range from wearable
electronic control for consumer electronics
and industrial wear to light-
weight, low- power touch interfaces
for telematics, military, transportation, and space suits.
It may replace
the hard touch pads, flexi- circuits,
and polymer switches which do not find wider uses
in growing demand of wearable electronics.
The sensor woven/ embedded
in the sleeves of jackets or straps
of rucksacks provides easy- to- wear
control for mobile phones, headphones, or microphones. Elek Tex® may also
provide electronic accessories including in- built speaker or
volume control.
Performance of material creates
application, and application brings the business. This
seems happening when Microsoft Corporation selected Eleksen, UK based manufacturer of smart fabric interfaces, to design and
manufacture the peripherals for the Ultra- Mobile PCs.
The business interest in the innovative 'smart fabric' developed
by Eleksen for electronic devices has been realised, and private equity
investors have made an investment of £ 4 million. The fund
will be used to support expansion
and working capital to meet
the desired sales growth. The
range of applications for the innovative
Eleksen technology is significant
and the funding
would hopefully make a difference in its market.
The diversity in the application of electronic textiles (e- textiles) is increasing and becoming interesting. The textile clothes,
being light- weight, strong and bendable, can be stretched over any frame into
desired shape. Electronic wires and sensors woven
into fabric can perform the function
of listening faint sound. That means
people resting in tents or camouflage
net may hear the distant sounds
of vehicles or steeping/ movement of people, animals, enemies etc.
Thinking for a jacket
or hat that can alert the wearer
when someone (friend or enemy!)
is coming from the back; or
having night wears that wakes
you up when
fire approaching wouldn't
be impossible using e- textiles.
The sensors and associated
connecting wires generate pattern of information that can be translated by computer
software into images which enable
the user to determine the
location of detected sounds. There are
e- textiles systems that do not produce detectable energy and require less
power then radio- wave- operated
systems.
Sound detection is only
one application of e- textile system, fabric may be woven
with sensors that can detect chemicals, materials, and satellite signals
etc. The interest and investment
in research and innovation are introducing more types of such smart-
applications.
The increasing exploration in the performance of smart textiles will continue to
grow, and the interdisciplinary applications will be gaining more interest
for innovation and development. Optimistically the future is bright for e- textiles.