In today’s tech world, technology keeps on changing, moreover it is reaching every nook and corner and touching every sector. From small to big, in every sector there is one or another technology.
Today whatever things we use behind it there is a technique. So this technology is behind us like shadow. While during light shadow goes but technology always remains. We have seen and heard about various technologies in the medical, education, aviation etc. But there is also a special technology in textile sector and it is called E-textiles.
We all know about e-books, e-audio, e-mail but this is different from all of this.
Electronic textiles or e-textiles are fabrics that enable electronic components such as batteries, lights, sensors, and microcontrollers to be embedded in them. They are not to be confused with smart textiles, which are fabrics that have been developed with new technologies that provide added value. Many smart clothing, wearable technology, and wearable computing projects involve the use of e-textiles.
Electronic textiles are distinct from wearable computing because the emphasis is placed on the seamless integration of textiles with electronic elements like microcontrollers, sensors, and actuators. Furthermore, e-textiles need not be wearable.
The basic materials needed to construct e-textiles, conductive threads, and fabrics have been around for over 1000 years. In particular, artisans have been wrapping fine metal foils, most often gold and silver, around fabric threads for centuries.At the end of the 19th Century, as people developed and grew accustomed to electric appliances, designers and engineers began to combine electricity with clothing and jewellery—developing a series of illuminated and motorised necklaces, hats, brooches and costumes.
In 1968, the Museum of Contemporary Craft in New York City held a ground-breaking exhibition called Body Covering that focused on the relationship between technology and apparel. The show featured astronauts’ space suits along with clothing that could inflate and deflate, light up, and heat and cool itself.
In 1985, inventor Harry Wainwright created the first fully animated sweatshirt. The shirt consisted of fiber optics, leads, and a microprocessor to control individual frames of animation. The result was a full-color cartoon displayed on the surface of the shirt.
The first ECG bio-physical display jackets employing LED/optic displays were created by Wainwright and David Bychkov, the CEO of Exmovere at the time in 2005 using GSR sensors in a watch connected via Bluetooth to the embedded machine washable display in a denim jacket.
E-textiles are mainly conductive yarn, textile and fabric while the other half of the suppliers and manufacturers use conductive polymers such as polyacetylene and poly-phenylene vinylene.
Most research and commercial e-textile projects are hybrids where electronic components embedded in the textile are connected to classical electronic devices or components. Some examples are touch buttons that are constructed completely in textile forms by using conducting textile weaves, which are then connected to devices such as music players or LEDs that are mounted on woven conducting fiber networks to form displays.
Smart textile fabric can be made from materials ranging from traditional cotton, polyester, and nylon, to advanced Kevlar with integrated functionalities. At present, however, fabrics with electrical conductivity are of interest.
Just as in classical electronics, the construction of electronic capabilities on textile fibers requires the use of conducting and semi-conducting materials such as a conductive textile. There are a number of commercial fibers today that include metallic fibers mixed with textile fibers to form conducting fibers that can be woven or sewn. However, because both metals and classical semiconductors are stiff material, they are not very suitable for textile fibre applications, since fibres are subjected to much stretch and bending during use.
One of the most important issues of e-textiles is that the fibres should be washable. Electrical components would thus need to be insulated during washing to prevent damage.
Fashion houses like CuteCircuit are utilising e-textiles for their haute couture collections and special projects. CuteCircuit’s Hug Shirt allows the user to send electronic hugs through sensors within the garment.