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Smart Textiles Sensors

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Dear Colleagues,

The use of sensors based on textile materials allows the integration of these sensors in clothes in a truly invisible and non-invasive way. Many issues remain, however, not least because these sensors must be able to withstand the same environment as typical garments, including flexing, compression, washing, drying, and abrasion. Novel coating, printing, and lamination methods show great promise in broadening the application area of smart textile sensors.

This Special Issue aims to gather novel developments in the creation and use of smart textile sensors, that is, sensors based on textile materials or which are seamlessly integrated with textile materials. We would like to give special attention to printing, screen printing, coating, and laminating techniques on fiber-based materials, as well innovative garment–fabric–yarn construction methods to achieve a sensing functionality.

Prof. Dr. Lieva Van Langenhove
Dr. Benny Malengier
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Sensors
Smart textile
Printing
Coating
Lamination
Integration

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Research

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13 pages, 1287 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Fabric-Based Textile Stretch Sensor for Optimized Measurement of Strain in Clothing

by Yetanawork Teyeme, Benny Malengier, Tamrat Tesfaye and Lieva Van Langenhove

Sensors 2020, 20(24), 7323; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20247323 - 20 Dec 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4581

Abstract

Fabric stretch sensors are available as planar fabrics, but their reliability and reproducibility are low. To find a good working setup for use in an elastic sports garment, the design of such sensors must be optimized. The main purpose of this study was to develop resistive strain sensors from stretchable conductive fabric and investigating the influence of stretchability on conductivity/resistivity. The influence of using the sensor in a sweat rich environment was also determined, in order to evaluate the potential use of the sensor in sporting garments. The sensor resistivity performance was analyzed for its sensitivity, working range, and repeatability and it was determined what makes the sensitivity when elongated or stretched. The resistivity was found to decrease with elongation if no sweat is present, this can be due to molecular rearrangement and a higher degree of orientation that improves the conductivity of a material. The result from this finding also shows that for wearable applications the commercial EeonTex^TM conductive stretchable fabric did not show a considerable resistivity increase, nor a good sensitivity. The sensitivity of the sensor was between 0.97 and 1.28 and varies with different elongation %. This may be due to the mechanical deformation characteristics of knitted samples that lead to changes in conductivity. We advise that the testing performed in this paper is done by default on new stretch sensitive textile materials, so practical use of the material can be correctly estimated. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Textiles Sensors)

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28 pages, 9274 KiB

Open AccessReview

Performance Evaluation of Knitted and Stitched Textile Strain Sensors

by Kaspar M.B. Jansen

Sensors 2020, 20(24), 7236; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20247236 - 17 Dec 2020

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 7147

Abstract

By embedding conductive yarns in, or onto, knitted textile fabrics, simple but robust stretch sensor garments can be manufactured. In that way resistance based sensors can be fully integrated in textiles without compromising wearing comfort, stretchiness, washability, and ease of use in daily life. The many studies on such textile strain sensors that have been published in recent years show that these sensors work in principle, but closer inspection reveals that many of them still have severe practical limitations like a too narrow working range, lack of sensitivity, and undesired time-dependent and hysteresis effects. For those that intend to use this technology it is difficult to determine which manufacturing parameters, shape, stitch type, and materials to apply to realize a functional sensor for a given application. This paper therefore aims to serve as a guideline for the fashion designers, electronic engineers, textile researchers, movement scientists, and human–computer interaction specialists planning to create stretch sensor garments. The paper is limited to textile based sensors that can be constructed using commercially available conductive yarns and existing knitting and embroidery equipment. Within this subtopic, relevant literature is discussed, and a detailed quantitative comparison is provided focusing on sensor characteristics like the gauge factor, working range, and hysteresis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Textiles Sensors)

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