Electronic textiles technologies

Definition of the nanoscale covers all species having at least one diameter of 100 nm or less. When nanoparticles are intentionally synthesized to be used in a range of consumer goods, they are called nanomaterials. Without doubt, one can say that we are now at the beginning of nanoindustrial revolution. Different types of nanomaterials are frequently applied in electronics, space technology, cosmetics and sunscreens production, medicine and pharmacy, solar energetics, textile industry, sport equipment, and many other areas [22, 23]. 

Gimpel, S., Mohring, U., Muller, H., Neudeck, A., and Scheibner, W. (2004) Textile-based electronic substrate technology./. Ind. Textiles, 33,179-189. 

The so-called smart materials are those fliat combine traditional textile technology with novel electronic technologies. With this, they enable themselves to interact with the environment, both by sensing it and by acting on it. Medical devices can benefit from them by providing more comfortable and acceptable products with versatile design, materials, and stmctures (Black, 2007). 

Electronic textiles Smart fabrics and wearable technology... 

Electronic Textiles Smart Fabrics and Wearable Technology... 

Several efforts to create prototypes of wearable functional devices have been made in the last years. Most of them consider the approach of joining conventional off-the-shelf electronic devices to fabrics, such as microcontrollers, LED s, optical fibres and all kinds of sensors, especially electrodes for ECG measurement. The consolidated textile technology for integrating conductive yams into knitted or woven fabrics and the implementation of sensors through embroidery has encouraged their use as suitable means for connection, data communication and power transfer. 

The health care industry is capitalizing on new medical technologies based on loT that will both dramatically improve care and lower costs. There is a dramatic growth in medical devices that use wireless technologies, some implanted and some worn on the body, to control bodily functions and to measure an array of physiological parameters. For example, implanted devices with biosensors and actuators can control heart rhythms, monitor hypertension, provide functional electrical stimulation of nerves, operate as glaucoma sensors, and monitor bladder and cranial pressure [3]. Electronic textiles (E-Tex)-based WBSNs for noninvasive health care monitoring will be the most... 

Meoli, D., May-Plumlee, T., 2002. Interactive electronic textile development a review of technologies. Journal of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management 2 (2), 1—12. 

Gimpel S, et al. Textile-based electronic substrate technology. J Ind Text 2004 33(3) 179-89. 

M. Jones, T. Martin, Hardware and software architectures for electronic textiles, in G. Cho (Ed.), Smart Clothing Technology and Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2010. 

Winterhalter, C. A. Teverovsky, J. Wilson Slade J. Horowitz, W. Tierney, E. Shar-ma Development of Electronic Textiles to Support Networks, Communications, and Medical Applications in Future, U. S. Military Protective Clothing Systems, IEEE Trans-actions On Information Technology In Biomedicine, 2005, 9(3), 402 06. 

A major modem use of electrically conducting textiles is in anti-static applications. Static electricity can not only be uncomfortable, but can also lead to fires and explosions (Kassebaum and Kocken, 1997). Anti-static properties can be conferred by coating fibres with metallized films, intrinsically conductive polymers, polyelectrolytes or by low molecular weight anti-statics in solution (Pionteck and Wypych, 2007). In the food industry, some solutions such as metal or metallized fibres are avoided because of the potential for contamination. Many of the technologies used for anti-statics have been employed for use in electronic textiles. 

Electrically conducting threads were manufactured in antiquity before electricity was discovered. In modem times, metal wires, metal-wrapped yams, metal-coated yams, inherently conductive polymers and other technologies have been employed to confer electrically conducting pathways to textiles. Originally, conventional electrical wires were used, but then more sophisticated approaches were adopted. With the high growth in wearable devices and electronic textiles in particular, there will be an added impetus for the development of electrically conducting pathways with properties more in line with conventional fibres and yams. 

Cork, C.R., Dias, T., Acti, T., Ratnayaka, A., Mbise, E., Anastasopoulos, I., Piper, A., 2013. The next generation of electronic textiles. In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Digital Technologies for the Textile Industries, Manchester, UK. www.academia.edu/ 6750189/The next graieration of electronic textiles (accessed 27.08.14.). 

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