Decontamination of Wearable Textile Electrodes for Medical and Health Care Applications

In the medical and health care environment ‘intelligent’ clothing must endure all the same treatments and procedures as standard hospital textile; that is laundry, disinfection and sterilization. The decontamination level depends on the end-use of the product. The smart garment system for long term body monitoring must be like any other technical underwear; fit well, be comfortable, elastic, vapor permeable, and have easy-care properties capable of enduring multiple cycles of laundry washing. Thus the use of man-made fibers, instead of traditionally used natural fibers, in a body monitoring garment would be more reasonable.The research focuses on disinfected and sterilized textile electrodes which are applicable for long term body monitoring. As high elasticity, comfort and good vapor permeability are needed, the research concentrates on the electrical and mechanical properties of knitted sensors after sterilization, disinfection and water-repellent treatment. The most important mechanical features of elastic textile electrodes are elongation recovery and dimensional stability. Before sterilization the textile must be cleaned properly from body fluids like blood and sweat. Improving the easy-clean properties would consequently be desirable. By improving the stain repellent or easy cleaning properties, the need for washing can be decreased and a more protective, lower temperature program during laundry washing can be used. These factors not only save energy but also lengthen the lifetime of textile electronics.The textile surface electric resistance, abrasion resistance, dimensional change and elastic properties following decontamination processes were studied, including the evaluation of water repellent-treated electrode properties. In addition, the mechanical properties of conventional knits and elastic woven bands were observed after treatment in order to assess their use in smart wearable systems.In addition to electrodes, the research results can be applied to many other textile electronics components such as conductors, antennae, heat elements, switchers and detectors, because all these components can be achieved with same elements; conventional textile fibers combined with conductive fibers or coatings. The obvious application areas for body monitoring by using textile electrodes are hospitals, health care centers and medical research centers. The textile electrodes are more comfortable and invisible for long time body monitoring which is needed, for example, in rehabilitation after surgery or detection of chronic diseases, where they are more effective than conventional gel (Ag / AgCl) electrodes.In conclusion it can be stated that silver-plated PA fiber in a knitted or woven structure with added repellent treatment provides a highly conductive and durable solution for wearable electronics in medical and health care applications. The steel fiber and textile mixture cannot tolerate mechanical stress caused by disinfection, washing, or repellent treatment. The knitted textile with silver coating cannot tolerate sterilization, either electrically or mechanically. Based on the results of the study, the use of woven bands as an electrode would be recommended instead of knitted material because they are dimensionally more stable. The electrode dimensional changes might negatively affect the measurement quality. On the other hand, the knitted electrodes have additional useful properties like softness and flexibility, thus compromises must be made in using textile electrodes in wearable technology. All materials in the study, woven and knitted, elastic and inelastic, coated and non –coated showed clear shrinkage in the sterilization process. However, using only one heat treatment makes them much more stable. For this reason it can be assumed that man-made fibers are more useful for medical products as they are more resistant to being sterilized or disinfected than are natural fibers. The elastane fiber can be used for improving bi-directional textile material recovery, but the unrecovered elongation as a function of sterilization must be considered. The variation in unrecovered elongation (stretching) might be extremely high and success depends on raw materials and textile structures

Textile materials

In this specialised publication, the reader will find research results and real engineering developments in the field of modern technical textiles. Modern technical textile materials, ranging from ordinary reinforcing fabrics in the construction and production of modern composite materials to specialised textile materials in the composition of electronics, sensors and other intelligent devices, play an important role in many areas of human technical activity. The use of specialized textiles, for example, in medicine makes it possible to achieve important results in diagnostics, prosthetics, surgical practice and the practice of using specialized fabrics at the health recovery stage. The use of reinforcing fabrics in construction can significantly improve the mechanical properties of concrete and various plaster mixtures, which increases the reliability and durability of various structures and buildings in general. In mechanical engineering, the use of composite materials reinforced with special textiles can simultaneously reduce weight and improve the mechanical properties of machine parts. Fabric- reinforced composites occupy a significant place in the automotive industry, aerospace engineering, and shipbuilding. Here, the mechanical reliability and thermal resistance of the body material of the product, along with its low weight, are very relevant. The presented edition will be useful and interesting for engineers and researchers whose activities are related to the design, production and application of various technical textile materials

Sports Materials

To further improve the level of correlation between these finite element models and lab-simulated bat/ball impacts, the material behavior for these wood species must also be characterized at strain rates comparable to those experienced ..

Tailoring Interaction. Sensing Social Signals with Textiles.

Nonverbal behaviour is an important part of conversation and can reveal much about the nature of an interaction. It includes phenomena ranging from large-scale posture shifts to small scale nods. Capturing these often spontaneous phenomena requires unobtrusive sensing techniques that do not interfere with the interaction. We propose an underexploited sensing modality for sensing nonverbal behaviours: textiles. As a material in close contact with the body, they provide ubiquitous, large surfaces that make them a suitable soft interface. Although the literature on nonverbal communication focuses on upper body movements such as gestures, observations of multi-party, seated conversations suggest that sitting postures, leg and foot movements are also systematically related to patterns of social interaction. This thesis addressees the following questions: Can the textiles surrounding us measure social engagement? Can they tell who is speaking, and who, if anyone, is listening? Furthermore, how should wearable textile sensing systems be designed and what behavioural signals could textiles reveal? To address these questions, we have designed and manufactured bespoke chairs and trousers with integrated textile pressure sensors, that are introduced here. The designs are evaluated in three user studies that produce multi-modal datasets for the exploration of fine-grained interactional signals. Two approaches to using these bespoke textile sensors are explored. First, hand crafted sensor patches in chair covers serve to distinguish speakers and listeners. Second, a pressure sensitive matrix in custom-made smart trousers is developed to detect static sitting postures, dynamic bodily movement, as well as basic conversational states. Statistical analyses, machine learning approaches, and ethnographic methods show that by moni- toring patterns of pressure change alone it is possible to not only classify postures with high accuracy, but also to identify a wide range of behaviours reliably in individuals and groups. These findings es- tablish textiles as a novel, wearable sensing system for applications in social sciences, and contribute towards a better understanding of nonverbal communication, especially the significance of posture shifts when seated. If chairs know who is speaking, if our trousers can capture our social engagement, what role can smart textiles have in the future of human interaction? How can we build new ways to map social ecologies and tailor interactions

Remixing physical objects through tangible tools

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2011.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-164).In this document we present new tools for remixing physical objects. These tools allow users to copy, edit and manipulate the properties of one or more objects to create a new physical object. We already have these capabilities using digital media: we can easily mash up videos, music and text. However, it remains difficult to remix physical objects and we cannot access the advantages of digital media, which are nondestructive, scalable and scriptable. We can bridge this gap by both integrating 2D and 3D scanning technology into design tools and employing aordable rapid prototyping technology to materialize these remixed objects. In so doing, we hope to promote copying as a tool for creation. This document presents two tools, CopyCAD and KidCAD, the first designed for makers and crafters, the second for children. CopyCAD is an augmented Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) milling machine which allows users to copy arbitrary real world object geometry into 2D CAD designs at scale through the use of a camera-projector system. CopyCAD gathers properties from physical objects, sketches and touch interactions directly on a milling machine, allowing novice users to copy parts of real world objects, modify them and create a new physical part. KidCAD is a sculpting interface built on top of a gel-based realtime 2.5D scanner. It allows children to stamp objects into the block of gel, which are scanned in realtime, as if they were stamped into clay. Children can use everyday objects, their hands and tangible tools to design new toys or objects that will be 3D printed. This work enables novice users to easily approach designing physical objects by copying from other objects and sketching new designs. With increased access to such tools we hope that a wide range of people will be empowered to create their own objects, toys, tools and parts.by Sean Follmer.S.M

Production and application of textile materials

This specialized publication is dedicated to technical and technological solutions in textile production. Engineering solutions in the production of fibers and fabrics for both technical and domestic use are considered. Particular attention in the book is given to the study of textile products for biomedical applications. Modern medical fabrics and fibers are used as dressing and suture material and significantly accelerate the recovery processes after surgical operations and burn injuries. Fibers and fabrics are currently often used as a reinforcing element in the production of various composite materials, which are often used in mechanical engineering and in the construction sector. A separate chapter is devoted to textile reinforcing materials. Environmental problems in textile production are mainly related to the dyeing process and the chemical treatment of fabrics and fibers. Some aspects of textile dyeing and wastewater treatment processes are also discussed in this publication. The book will be useful to specialists involved in textile production and related industries

Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars

The Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) Program was established by Dr. Samuel E. Massenberg in 1986. The program has increased from 20 participants in 1986 to 114 participants in 1995. The program is LaRC-unique and is administered by Hampton University. The program was established for the benefit of undergraduate juniors and seniors and first-year graduate students who are pursuing degrees in aeronautical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, material science, computer science, atmospheric science, astrophysics, physics, and chemistry. Two primary elements of the LARSS Program are: (1) a research project to be completed by each participant under the supervision of a researcher who will assume the role of a mentor for the summer, and (2) technical lectures by prominent engineers and scientists. Additional elements of this program include tours of LARC wind tunnels, computational facilities, and laboratories. Library and computer facilities will be available for use by the participants