scientists at the Federal 1nstitute of technology in Zurich, Switzerland, have recently developed a new technology that can weave sensors, conductive fibers and other electronic components into ordinary cloth like fibers, according to the physicists’ organization network. This kind of intelligent fabric woven by common fabric and electronic components not only has the characteristics of electronic components, but also can be washed directly. 1n addition, because the core of its technology is miniaturization and fibrosis of electronic components, large-scale commercial production can be achieved without upgrading the existing textile equipment
for a long time, scientists have been trying to add electronic components into ordinary cloth to make it have specific functions. The most common solution is to fix the electronic components on the cloth by sewing. The obvious disadvantage of “electronic clothing” made by this method is that it can’t be washed directly. 1n addition, the production can only be carried out by hand, which is not convenient for large-scale commercial production, resulting in the high cost of this kind of clothing
the technology developed by scientists in the wearable computer laboratory of the Federal 1nstitute of technology in Zurich is to attach a plastic fiber to the miniaturized electronic components and connect a large number of micro integrated circuits together through a special material and structure. Although a large number of electronic components are contained in the textile raw materials, the smart fabric is not very different from ordinary fabrics in appearance, and the clothes made of it can also be easily folded, which means that this kind of smart clothing will not appear strange even in daily life. 1n addition, because the electronic components in the fabric are encapsulated in plastic, the clothes made of the fabric can also be washed easily
at present, the structure of textiles made by this technology is mainly ribbon, but researchers hope that the final intelligent fabric can withstand arbitrary cutting, so as to better meet the needs of fashion design and production. Researchers have produced two kinds of samples through the technology: TABLECLOTH which can display the ambient temperature and humidity through its own LED (light emitting diode); Vest that can measure body temperature at any time
kunigunde chichnik, the project leader, said that intelligent fabric technology will have a very wide application prospect in the future: the hybrid fabric with heart rate monitoring sensor can not only help injured athletes to carry out recovery training safely, but also provide information about the injured or the environment for emergency and fire fighters, Even the monitor and keyboard can be integrated into the clothes, so that we can easily “wear” the computer on our body. 1n the next step, they will focus on the power supply of smart fabrics, and plan to further expand the space of smart fabrics to support larger scale sensor and bus structures