Washability of e-textiles: current testing practices and the need for standardization

Washability is seen as one of the main obstacles that stands in the way of a wider market success of e-textile products. So far, there are no standardized methods for wash testing of e-textiles and no protocols to comparably assess the washability of tested products. Thus, different e-textiles that are deemed equally washable by their developers might present with very different ranges of reliability after repeated washing. This paper presents research into current test practices in the absence of e-textile-specific standards. Different testing methods are compared and evaluated and the need for standardized testing, giving e-textile developers the tools to comparably communicate and evaluate their products’ washability, is emphasized

Measuring joint movement through garment-integrated wearable sensing

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. April 2015. Major: Computer Science. Advisor: Lucy Dunne. 1 computer file (PDF); xv, 154 pages.Wearable technology is generally interpreted as electronic devices with passive and/or active electronic components worn on the human body. A further sub-set of wearable technology includes devices that are equipped with sensing abilities for body movements or biosignals and computational power that allows for further analysis. Wearable devices can be distinguished by different levels of wearability: wearable devices integrated into clothing, which are an integral part of the clothes; and wearable devices put on as an accessory. This thesis introduces a novel approach to truly wearable sensing of body movement through novel garment-integrated sensors. It starts from an initial investigation of garment movement in order to quantify the effect that garment movement has on sensor accuracy in garment-integrated sensors; continues with the development and detailed characterization of garment-integrated sensors that use a stitched technique to create comfortable, soft sensors capable of sensing stretch and bend; and ends with a final evaluation of the proposed wearable solution for the specific case of knee joint monitoring in both the stretch and bend modalities

Capafoldable: self-tracking foldable smart textiles with capacitive sensing

Folding is an unique structural technique to enable planer materials with motion or 3D mechanical properties. Textile-based capacitive sensing has shown to be sensitive to the geometry deformation and relative motion of conductive textiles. In this work, we propose a novel self-tracking foldable smart textile by combining folded fabric structures and capacitive sensing to detect the structural motions using state-of-the-art sensing circuits and deep learning technologies. We created two folding patterns, Accordion and Chevron, each with two layouts of capacitive sensors in the form of thermobonded conductive textile patches. In an experiment of manually moving patches of the folding patterns, we developed deep neural network to learn and reconstruct the vision-tracked shape of the patches. Through our approach, the geometry primitives defining the patch shape can be reconstructed from the capacitive signals with R-squared value of up to 95\% and tracking error of 1cm for 22.5cm long patches. With mechanical, electrical and sensing properties, Capafoldable could enable a new range of smart textile applications

The Bionic Bra: Using electromaterials to sense and modify breast support to enhance active living

Background: Although the most supportive sports bras can control breast motion and associated breast pain, they are frequently deemed uncomfortable to wear and, as a result, many women report exercise bra discomfort. Given that exercise bra discomfort is associated with decreased levels of physical activity, there is a pertinent need to develop innovative solutions to address this problem. Objectives: This research aimed to evaluate the use of electromaterial sensors and artificial muscle technology to create a bra that was capable of detecting increases in breast motion and then responding with increased breast support to enhance active living. Methods: The research involved two phases: (i) evaluating sensors suitable for monitoring and providing feedback on changes in the amplitude and frequency of breast motion, and (ii) evaluating an actuator capable of changing breast support provided by a bra during activity. Results: When assessed in isolation, the developed technologies were capable of sensing breast motion and actuating to provide some additional breast support. Conclusions: The challenge now lies in integrating both technologies into a functional sports bra prototype, and assessing this prototype in a controlled biomechanical analysis to provide a breast support solution that will enable women to enjoy active living in comfort

Sensors in your clothes: Design and development of a prototype

Wearable computing is fast advancing as a preferred approach for integrating software solutions not only in our environment, but also in our everyday garments to exploit the numerous information sources we constantly interact with. This paper explores this context further by showing the possible use of wearable sensor technology for information critical information systems, through the design and development of a proof-of-concept prototyp

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

A systematic review of smart clothing in sports: Possible applications to extreme sports

Background. Traditional monitoring of athletes during sports has long been hampered by bulky, complicated and tethered systems. In the past decade, this has changed due to the miniaturization of sensors and improvement of systems to store and transmit data. These systems have been integrated into textiles to create ‘smart clothing’ which has been so ubiquitous that a review of the recent literature is crucial for understanding its full potential and potential use in extreme sports. Methods. An electronic data base search was performed from 2003 to April 2019 for full length articles including “Smart” AND “Clothing” OR “Clothing” AND “Sport(s)” written in English with human subjects. Articles were evaluated according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results. Twenty-four studies resulted in 18 systems comprised of 22 types of clothing with various capabilities, including: monitoring heart rate, electromyography, respiratory rate, steps, GPS, energy expenditure, posture, body temperature and identifying the activity. Conclusions. Many types of smart clothing from socks and gloves, to pants, shirts and bras are increasingly utilized to monitor sports activity worldwide and gather previously unavailable, yet highly valuable data. This provides a unique opportunity to study athletes during training and competition, potentially providing more effective training and better safety protocols

Smart Clothing Framework for Health Monitoring Applications

Wearable technologies are making a significant impact on people’s way of living thanks to the advancements in mobile communication, internet of things (IoT), big data and artificial intelligence. Conventional wearable technologies present many challenges for the continuous monitoring of human health conditions due to their lack of flexibility and bulkiness in size. Recent development in e-textiles and the smart integration of miniature electronic devices into textiles have led to the emergence of smart clothing systems for remote health monitoring. A novel comprehensive framework of smart clothing systems for health monitoring is proposed in this paper. This framework provides design specifications, suitable sensors and textile materials for smart clothing (e.g., leggings) development. In addition, the proposed framework identifies techniques for empowering the seamless integration of sensors into textiles and suggests a development strategy for health diagnosis and prognosis through data collection, data processing and decision making. The conceptual technical specification of smart clothing is also formulated and presented. The detailed development of this framework is presented in this paper with selected examples. The key challenges in popularizing smart clothing and opportunities of future development in diverse application areas such as healthcare, sports and athletics and fashion are discussed