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according to physicist organization network, scientists at the Federal Institute of technology in Zurich, Switzerland have developed a new technology that can make sensors, conductive fibers and other electricity. Sub components are woven into ordinary cloth like fibers. The intelligent fabric made of ordinary fabrics and electronic components not only has the characteristics of electronic components, but also can be washed directly. In addition, the core of its technology is the miniaturization and fibrosis of the electronic components, so it is not necessary to replace the existing textile equipment, so it can be commercialized on a large scale.
scientists have been trying to add electronic components to common fabric to make it specific, and the most common solution is to stitch electronic components on the cloth by sewing. The obvious drawback of the "electronic garment" made by this method is that it can not be washed directly. In addition, the production can only be carried out by manual operation, which is not convenient for large-scale commercial production, resulting in high cost of such clothing. The technology developed by scientists at the wearable computer laboratory at the Federal Institute of technology in Zurich is to attach a plastic fiber to small electronic components and to connect a large number of micro integrated circuits through a special material and structure.
although a large number of electronic components are contained in the textile materials, the smart fabric is not much different from the ordinary fabric in appearance, and the clothes made of it can be easily folded, which means that the smart clothing will not appear to be weird even in daily life. In addition, because the electronic components in the fabric are all encapsulated by plastic, the clothes made of them can also be washed conveniently. At present, the structure of the textile products made by this technology is mainly banded, but the researchers hope that the final smart cloth can withstand arbitrary cutting in order to better meet the needs of the design and production of clothing. The researchers have made two samples through the technology: a tablecloth that can display the temperature and humidity of the environment with its own LED (light emitting diode), and can measure the body's body temperature at any time.
Kunigunde Chicnik, director of the project, said that smart fabric technology will have a very wide range of applications in the future: a hybrid fabric with a heart rate monitoring sensor can help the injured athletes to carry out the restorative training safely, and to provide information about the injured or the environment for the first aid and the anti personnel. You can also integrate monitors and keyboards on clothing so that we can easily "wear" the computer. Next, they will focus on the problem of the power supply for smart fabrics and plan to further broaden the space for intelligent fabrics to support a larger sensor and bus structure.