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Smart Fabrics & Interactive Clothing

ByAkhil K

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DefinitionSmart textiles are defined as textiles that can

sense and react to environmental conditions or stimuli from mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical or magnetic sources.

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ClassificationsPassive Smart Fabrics

Sense environmental conditions or stimulusActive Smart Fabrics

Actuators and sensorsCentral control unit present

Ultra Smart FabricsSense, react and adapt themselves to envt.Cognition, reasoning and activating capacities

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Smart materials usedThermo regulating materialShape memory materialsChromic materialsLuminescent materialsConductive materialMembranesVoltaic materials

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Thermo regulating material• Paraffin phase change material• Absorbs heat and stores it• Change state to retain heat

• Paraffin enclosed into small plastic spheres with diameters of only a few micrometers to prevent dissolution

• Provide a thermal balance between the heat generated by the body while engaging in a sport and the heat released into the environment

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Shape memory material

Materials stable at two or more temperature statesDifferent temperature states, they have the

potential to assume different shapes

Electro active polymers which can change shape in response to electrical stimuliProduce substantial change in size or shape

and force generation for actuation mechanisms

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Chromic MaterialsChange their colour reversibly according to

external environmental conditionsPhotochromic: external stimulus is light. Thermochromic: external stimulus is heat. Electrochromic: external stimulus is

electricity. Piezorochromic: external stimulus is

pressure. Solvatechromic: external stimulus is liquid

or gas.

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Luminescent MaterialsEmits lights according to external

environmental conditionsPhotoluminescence: external

stimulus is lightElectroluminescence: external

stimulus is electricityChemioluminescence: external

stimulus is a chemical reactionTriboluminescence: external

stimulus is friction

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Conductive materialsTwo types of materials, the metals

and the polymersHigh wicking finishes (ink) with a

high metallic content that still retains the comfort

Direct use of conductive yarnsApplications are electromagnetic

interface (EMI) shielding and conducting

Thermal conduction allows distribution of heat throughout the entire garment or suit

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MembranesMembranes are constituted of

polymers and their structure could be made of one or more layers

Used in sportswear for the manufacture of breathable and impermeable clothes

More breathability and extreme water repellence

Lotus effect provides repellence of the aqueous products and also of the oleic product – useful for self cleaning garments

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Voltaic materialsStorage of energy for electronic

partsUse of solar cellsResearch underway to produce and

store electricity from body movements and wrist rotation

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Electronic textilesTextiles that sensor the body for military or

medical usesSmart shirt by the Professor Sundaresan

JayaramanThe sensory Baby VestThe life shirt by Vivometrics

Interactive FabricsComfort & SecurityThe wearable computer

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Military textilesSmart shirt by the Professor

Sundaresan JayaramanUses optical fibres to detect bullet

woundsMedical sensing devices that are

attached to the body plug into the computerised shirt

Helps to determine who needs immediate attention within the first hour of combat

Types of sensors used can be varied depending on the wearer's needs

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Medical textilesThe sensory Baby Vest

To detect cardiac, pulmonary or other defects in newborn child

The life shirt by VivometricsLifeShirt System gathers data during

the subject's daily routine, providing pharmaceutical and academic researchers with a continuous "movie" of the subject's health in real-life situations (work, school, exercise, sleep), rather than the "snapshot" generated during a typical clinic visit

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Interactive FabricsKeyboard made in a single layer

of fabric using capacitive sensingSome famous products are the

KENPO jacket that possesses an integrated MP3 lectors and the IPods jeans by Levis

A Swedish R&D team has developed a glove that incorporates a phone

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Comfort and securityTightens and loosens the garments automatically

according to needsSecurity tools developed using Radio Frequency

Identification (RFID) tagsRFID tags are miniscule microchips - half the size of a

grain of sandListen for a radio query and respond by transmitting

their unique ID codeAutomating the garment handling process, including:

check-in, sorting, and checkoutintegration of GPS in garments for the detection of

user position in case of disappearance or kidnapping

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Wearable computersObjective is the integration of a

complete computer screen, CPU and keyboard in a wearable garment

Universities and research organisations are developing a wearable computer system that is a better powered computer system worn on the user's body (on a belt, backpack or vest)

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AdvantagesLight weightDurableWashableIntegratable with human bodyPierce resistantWater resistant yet breathableTracking/communication systemsMonitoring systemsUsable in security authentication

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DrawbacksNeeds to be chargedBulkyExpensiveYet to be commercially recognized

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ConclusionSmart textiles were presented as imaginary

products and as a non competitive marketNowadays SFIT are an implanted customer

interest and are presented as the future of the textile industry

A lot of scientist are developing new solutions, ideas and concrete products

Some approximations announce a market of 1 billion dollars by 2010 which certainly explains the current passion for these news topics

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Referencehttp://health.howstuffworks.com/bionic-arm.h

tmhttp://www.smartextiles.co.uk/_wearcomp.ht

mhttp://www.luminex.it/http://www.eleksen.com/http://science.howstuffworks.com/ffw.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoskeletonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_i

nterface#Human_BCI_researchhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4411591.st

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/165596.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5140090.st

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