International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR) ISSN: 2319-4413 Volume 3, No. 4, April 2014

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E-Textiles: A Review

Dr. Devanand Uttam, Associate Professor, Department of Textile Engineering, Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical University Campus, Bathinda (Punjab), India

ABSTRACT: Presently, textile manufactures and researcher are working on various new fields to provide high featured textiles for twenty first century customers. One of successful efforts in this side is the development of E-textiles by integrating the textile with electronics; in which familiarity with clothing allows sensors and computational elements to be naturally integrated into garments such that wearability and usability is preserved. E- textiles may find useful in many areas such as: ornament, fashion, communication, entertainment, health, military, sports and safety etc. In this paper, technology, special features and applications of e-textile have been reviewed. Keywords: Electronic textiles, E-textiles, intelligent clothing, smart textiles. 1. INTRODUCTION E-textiles are fabrics that enable computing, digital components, and electronics to be embedded in them. In near future, we shall be covered with the e-textiles. E-textiles are known as electronic textiles and during the development of wearable technology, electronic technology are referred as smart textiles or intelligent textiles. An electronic textile refers to a textile substrate that incorporates capabilities for sensing (biometric or external), communication (usually wireless), power transmission, and interconnection technology to allow sensors or things such as information processing devices to be networked together within a fabric. These fabrics have electronics and interconnections woven into them, with physical flexibility and size that cannot be achieved with existing electronic manufacturing techniques. Components and interconnections are intrinsic to the fabric and thus are less visible and not susceptible to becoming tangled together or snagged by the surroundings. E-textiles can also more easily adapt to changes in the sensing and computational requirements of an application. Electronic textiles do not strictly include wearable computing because emphasis is placed on the seamless integration between the fabric and the electronic elements, such as cables, microcontrollers, sensors and actuators. An e-textile can be worn in everyday situations where currently available wearable computers would

hinder the user. The scope of e-textile is unlimited. It has been felt that soon textiles will be merged with electronics in all areas. [1-4] Smart fabrics are ones which can change/react automatically to their surroundings. Smart fabrics (-or intelligent textiles) are being developed to be able to sense what is happening t o the wearer or it immediate surroundings. An example of t his would be smart shirt with capacity to know when the wearers heart rat e spikes or drops unexpectedly, then being able to send such information to appropriate people. There is a substantive difference between the terms, Smart and Intelligent, Smart materials or textiles can be defined as the materials and structures which can sense the environment al conditions or stimuli; whereas intelligent textiles can be defined as textile structures which not only can sense but can also react and respond to environmental conditions or stimuli. These stimuli as well as response could be thermal, chemical, mechanical, electric or magnetic. [4] In future wearable computers would be launched; they will contain ICs in fabric to develop fabric keyboards and other wearable computer devices. These types of products are known as Interactive Electronic Textiles (IET). These Interactive electronic textiles may find useful in many traditional, fashion and industrial textile applications in the form of communication, entertainment, health and safety. Growing consumer interest in computer, mobile and electronic devises will initiate the demand for IET products. [5,6] 2. TYPES OF E-TEXTILES The area e-textiles can be broadly divided into following two types [1, 4]:

1) Common type of e-textile: Mounting classical electronic devices such as conducting wires, integrated circuits (ICs), LEDs, and conventional batteries into garments.

2) Modern e-textile: E-textiles with modern electronics directly on the textile fibers. This can include either passive electronics such as pure wires, conducting textile fibers, or more advanced electronics such as transistors, diodes and solar cells. The field of embedding advanced electronic components onto textile fibers is sometimes referred to as fibretronics.

International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR) ISSN: 2319-4413 Volume 3, No. 4, April 2014

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The most common approach to e-textiles, today comprise the first type. Conductive textile is a fabric which can conduct electricity. Conductive textiles can be made with metal strands woven into the construction of the textile. There is also a interest in semi-conducting textiles, made by impregnating normal textiles with carbon- or metal-based powders. Conductive fibers consist of a non-conductive or less conductive substrate, which is then either coated or embedded with electrically conductive elements, often carbon, nickel, copper, gold, silver, or titanium. Substrates typically include cotton, polyester, nylon, stainless steel t o high performance fibers such as aramids. 3. FIBRETRONICS

The construction of electronic capabilities on textile fibers requires the use of conducting and semi-conducting materials such as a Conductive Textile. There are a number of commercial fibers available in the market that includes metallic fibres mixed with textile fibers to form conducting fibers that can be woven or sewn. However, because both metals and classical semiconductors are stiff material, they are not very suitable for making electronic textile. Organic electronics material is more suitable for e-textiles because they can be conducting, semiconducting, and designed as inks and plastics. Some advanced functions are demonstrated in the lab stage: Organic fiber transistors (the textile fiber transistor that is completely compatible with textile manufacturing and that contains no metals at all) and Organic solar cells on fibers. [1] 4. APPLICATIONS OF E-TEXTILES Production, research and innovation in e-textiles is depends upon its application. The area of application of e-textiles (and smarts textile in broader sense) as under [1, 7-11]:

i. Fashion & life style purpose ii. Ornament purpose iii. Entertainment purpose iv. Communication & interaction purpose. v. Medical (health) purpose vi. Protection & Safety purpose etc. vii. Sports & Outdoor Purpose viii. Military Purposes ix. Other applications

i. Fashion & Lifestyle purpose: One area of application of textile is fashion and life style. These include mobile entertainment (MP3 Jackets), lightening and actuated decoration elements on cloths, touch sensitive shirts etc. ii. Ornamental purpose: e-textiles are also used for decoration and ornamental purposes such as: curtains, wall hangings, carpet, pillows, decoration elements, and carpet embedded guidance systems in buildings. It is also used in car upholstery.

iii. Entertainment purpose: It can be developed clothing that can constantly project the video of our choosing, wearing a robe covered in a display that actually projects the night sky in realtime, wearable gaming console, talking to people over the “phone” just by making a hand gesture and activating electronics in your lapel, then merely thinking about what you want to say (thought-to-speech interfaces). iv. Communication & interaction purpose: The e-textile is used in the field of communication and interaction. These include: work flow assistance and surveillance, hand free human-computer interaction (e.g. wearable motion capture or speech controlled systems), location awareness, mobile information exchange etc. v. Medical (health) purpose: In this area, e-textile is used to monitor vital signs, transmit this data and promote well-being. It helps to improve the lifestyle of people who require medical treatment, rehabilitation after medical treatment and enhancing the lifestyle of elderly persons by assisting declining body functions. The e-textile is able to measure of various body motion parameters during walking. The textile sensors generally monitor heartrate. The development of biochemical-sensing techniques and their integration into textiles adds a new dimension to bio-textile-sensor technology: analyzing body fluids via textile sensors. The two yarns (hydrophilic and hydrophobic yarns) can be woven to direct the sweat through fabric channels to a sensor area. Body fluids can provide valuable data about a person’s well being. Some common applications of e-textile in medical or health area are: medical monitoring suits, ECG T-shirts, homecare and rehabilitation, remote telemedicine, remote baby monitoring, vital signs monitoring blankets in hospital. For those people that need around-the-clock monitoring are confined to rooms for stationary monitoring. By integrating monitoring sensors comfortably into clothing it allows these people to lead a more normal lifestyle. vi. Protection & Safety purpose: The e–textile also used for protection and safety purposes. Some examples are: active heating and cooling cloths, constant monitoring of vital signs for elderly persons, fire fighter clothes, space suits, smart surgery suits etc. vii. Sports & Outdoor: E-textile is also used for monitoring for body functions (respiration rate, breathing frequency, body temperature, heartrate) and mobile communication such as: ski glove, GPS outdoor jackets, smart jogging shoes, kinaesthetic monitoring for athlete training, ECG bra or shirts etc. viii. Military Purposes: Electronic textile used for various military work and research purposes. Bio-feedback can track a soldier’s vital signs to enhance endurance and overall health such as socks with pressure sensors that alert him to put his feet upto lower blood pressure. Environment sensing can detect enemies, or potential biochemical threats, approaching vehicles, direction of any sound. Fabric can change the colour according to

International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR) ISSN: 2319-4413 Volume 3, No. 4, April 2014

i-Explore International Research Journal Consortium www.irjcjournals.org

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surroundings. E-textile can facilitate medical diagnosis and provide treatment. ix. Other applications: Some other applications of e-textiles are: large size display (luminescent curtains), colour change event wardrobe in promotion and event industry, solar cell powered bags, garment, textile switches, bags etc. E-textile is also used in computer assisted working such as: work flow assistance and surveillance, hands-free human-computer interaction (e.g. wearable motion-capture or speech-controlled systems), location awareness, mobile information exchange etc. 5. CONCLUSION The special features of the e-textile provide unlimited scope for it. In near future, all of us enjoying the benefits of e-textiles or wearable computers. The area of e-textile is broadly divided into two groups: i. e-textiles with classical electronic devices, and ii. e-textiles with modern electronics directly on the textile fibers. E-textiles can be used for the purpose of aesthetic, ornamental, entertainment, communication, medical, safety and sportswear etc. Although, most of the innovation and developments in e-textiles are limited upto laboratory, but the future of e-textile will be very bright. 6. REFERENCES

[1] E-Textile, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-textiles -

accessed on 15.01.14 [2] E-textile lab, http://www.ccm.ece.vt.edu/ etextiles,

accessed on 25.02.14

[3] JOANNA BERZOWSKA, Electronic Textiles: Wearable Computers, Reactive Fashion, and Soft Computation, Textile, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 2–19.

[4] E textiles- The smart and intelligent textiles @ VIFTA, http://today.vidya.edu.in/etextiles-the-smart-and- intelligent-textiles-vift/- Accessed on 18.03.2014

[5] Chidambaram R.K., Technical Textiles: An Overview, http://www.fibre2fashion.com/ industry-article/pdffiles/ technical-textiles-an-over-view.pdf

[6] Technical Textile, http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Technical_textile - accessed on 16.01.2014

[7] Crunchwear, http://www.crunchwear.com/ category/technologies/e-textiles/- accessed on 08.02.2014

[8] Hibbert, R., Textile Innovation: interactive, contemporary and traditional materials. London: Line, p.103, (2004).

[9] Kohler, A. R. End-of-life implications of electronic textiles, Thesis for Master of Science in Environment and Policy, Sweden, (2008), http:lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=1480555&fileOId =1480556 – accessed on 18.01.2014

[10] Voss, D., Smart Home Care: New Diagnostic Devices Could Save an ER Visit.” MIT Technology Review, (2001): p.31.

[11] Dean, K., Smart Fatigues Hear Enemy Coming. Wired News, October 22 (2002). http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,55764,00.html, accessed on 02.01.2014.