Solar Energy Makes Smart Clothing Full Of Electricity

A traditional sensor is a device that can convert a non-electric signal into an electrical signal that is easy to process and output it according to a certain law, and is usually composed of three parts: a sensitive element, a conversion element and a measurement circuit. Sensors used in smart clothing are generally flexible, intelligent, miniaturized and integrated. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new technology called the Electronic Fabric Fit Set (E-TeCS) that integrates electronic sensors into elastic fabrics. This embedded sensor, which is very soft and embedded in clothing, is not much different from ordinary clothing, and can be combined with other clothing to create clothing that can be used to monitor vital signs such as temperature, breathing, heart rate, etc.

According to the paper, engineers for embedded sensors have developed a technology that combines thin, lightweight, customizable, qualified electronic devices, including interconnect lines and off-the-shelf ICs, with plastic substrates that can be woven into knitted textiles using high-throughput manufacturing methods. The garment provides contact between the embedded sensor and the skin, and the contact pressure between the embedded sensor and the skin is about 25 mmHg, which improves physical comfort and improves the accuracy of sensor readings on the skin. The developer of the embedded sensor, designed and manufactured seven different modules: four temperature sensing modules, one inertial sensing module and two interconnect modules. They installed 25 temperature sensors and 27.5 interconnect strips on a flexible board (FPCB, KingCredie) of 66 × 20-cm. In terms of the sensor network architecture embedded in the structure, each sensor can be connected together horizontally through interconnect, and the signal is collected by the outer layer. The outer layer is mainly composed of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) modules, microprocessors, and power supplies. Embedded sensors can be rolled into rolls, and fabrics that manufacture sensor embedding can be cut to any size, combined and customized for a variety of needs and applications. The development team developed a prototype shirt to demonstrate the scalability of the sensor-integrated structure.

The embedded sensor is very sensitive, and with the help of mechanical acoustic inertial sensing, the E-TeCS can detect skin temperature with an accuracy of 0.1 °C and 0.01 °C, and heart rhythm and respiration with an accuracy of 0.0012 m/s2. In addition, it is extremely resistant to stretching, with up to 30% stretch of woven textile electronics in 1,000 stretch cycles without significant degradation of mechanical and electrical properties. Clothing with embedded sensors that measure the wearer's body temperature, exercise, heart rate, and respiration rate; A small communication module is mounted on the hem of the garment, which can be easily loaded and unloaded with a quick button, and the data is wirelessly transmitted to a smartphone; When the garment needs to be changed, it can be washed with peace of mind, and it doesn't matter if you put it in the washing machine.

Embedded sensors can be used in a wide range of garments. Smart clothing embedded with sensors can enable wearers to pay attention to their own health on a daily basis, can be used to remotely track the health status of patients, and can also be used to monitor athletes' sports and physical conditions. However, it remains to be seen whether this embedded sensor can be widely used in smart clothing.