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

1

2

1

1

2

2

textile perfboard

Velostat