Conductive Textiles
Where Electronics Meet Textiles
Workshop with Lynne Bruning and
Troy Robert Nachtigall
Sponsored by Spark Fun and PlugandWear
Versione 3.0 - January 2010
Different Materials have different Conductivity
Conductor?
NON-CONDUCTOR
SEMICONDUCTOR
SUPERCONDUCTOR
CONDUCTORINSULATORS
Conductive Yarns
Filament, Spuncoated, and Ply Yarns
MAking Condutive Thread
Mixing Conductive and non-conductive Fibers
Current/conductivity in thread depends upon three major factors:
1.Conductive Material Used2.% of Conductive Fibers3.Longitudinal Configuration & Horizontal Configuration
Conductive Fibers
- metals – copper, silver, stainless steel, brass, Monel (Nickel) - metallized fibers - polyamide/silver- carbon
Fiber Horizontal Configurations
Dog Bone Triorbial
Hollow Core
Natural
Circular
Segmented
Fiber Longitudinal Configurations
• Straight
• Twisted
• Coiled
• Crimped
All conductors have resistance
• Wearable electronics have more resistance because they are part non condutor.
• We can create a variable resistor (or Potentiometer) by attaching a jewelry closure.
Let’s Try it
Let’s Try it
Electricity in simple knitted fabrics
Pressure sensitive fabricCharacteristics
Activation force 3.6 Kg per 50 mm diameter
• More then 1.000.000 cycles• For a 15 cm x 20 cm switch
resistance when pressed: around 200 Ohm, open circuit when non pressed
Pressure sensitive fabricsInnovative aspects
• No need of further production steps
• Low cost• Transpiring• Semi-transparent• Flexible• Different activating pressures• Matrix switches • Large area switches (50 cm x 50
cm) • Skin compatible materials
State Change Detection
• Load up the sketch/Examples/Digital/StateChangeDetection
• This sketch counts how many times a button is pressed
Textile button sensors
• Two different hookups
• Normal Button
• Resistor
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2
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textile perfboard
Velostat