Conductive Textiles Where Electronics Meet Textiles Workshop with Lynne Bruning and Troy Robert Nachtigall Sponsored by Spark Fun and PlugandWear Versione January 2010
Different Materials have different Conductivity
Conductor? NON- CONDUCTOR SEMI CONDUCTOR SUPER CONDUCTOR INSULATORS
Conductive Yarns
Filament, Spun coated, and Ply Yarns
MAking Condutive Thread
Mixing Conductive and non- conductive Fibers Current/conductivity in thread depends upon three major factors: 1.Conductive Material Used 2.% of Conductive Fibers 3.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
Electricity in simple knitted fabrics
Pressure sensitive fabric Characteristics Activation force 3.6 Kg per 50 mm diameter More then cycles For a 15 cm x 20 cm switch resistance when pressed: around 200 Ohm, open circuit when non pressed
Pressure sensitive fabrics Innovative 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/St ateChangeDetectio n This sketch counts how many times a button is pressed
Textile button sensors Two different hookups Normal Button Resistor
textile perfboard
Velostat