Skip to main content

Reversible Contacting for Smart Textiles

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Smart Textiles

Abstract

Smart textiles include integrated sensors and actuators, which are connected to electronics to read or control. Various ways of connecting electronics to textiles exist. In this chapter, we will give an overview of these electronics-to-textile connector prototypes. While the different connection types have advantages and disadvantages, there is a trade-off between the size and the number of connections. The electronics can be fabricated with pitches of 0.2 mm, but the textile part has lower limits on the size given by the textile fabrication processes such as stitching and weaving. The connection can be fixed, which implies better reliability and less rigid components, or removable, which allows the separation of textile and electronics for charging or washing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Harman, G.G.: Wire Bonding in Microelectronics, 3rd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Russell, S.: Handbook of Nonwovens. Woodhead Publishing, Cambridge (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Stokes, V.K.: Joining methods for plastics and plastic composites: an overview. Polym. Eng. Sci. 29(19), 1310–1324 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Potente, H., Uebbing, M.: Friction welding of polyamides. Polym. Eng. Sci. 37(4), 726–737 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Shi, W., Little, T.: Mechanisms of ultrasonic joining of textile materials. Intern. J. Cloth. Sci. Technol. 12(5), 331–350 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Delannay, F., Froyen, L., Deruyttere, A.: The wetting of solids by molten metals and its relation to the preparation of metal-matrix composites composites. J. Mater. Sci. 22(1), 1–16 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Puttlitz, K.J., Stalter, K.A.: Handbook of Lead-free Solder Technology for Microelectronic Assemblies. CRC Press, New York (2004)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Mei, Z., Hua, F., Glazer, J., Key, C.: Low temperature soldering. In: Twenty-First IEEE/CPMT International Electronics Manufacturing Technology Symposium, 1997, pp. 463–476 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Henkel: LOCTITE C 400 97SC 3C 1.63MM, 1 February 2016. http://hybris.cms.henkel.com/henkel/msdspdf?country=US&language=EN&matnr=673832

  10. MG Chemicals: Sn96 Lead Free Solder (SAC 305) 4900, 1 February 2016. http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/solder/non-leaded/sn96-4900/

  11. Glazer, J.: Metallurgy of low temperature pb-free solders for electronic assembly. Intern. Mater. Rev. 40(2), 65–93 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kinloch, A.: Adhesion and Adhesives: Science and Technology. Springer Science & Business Media, Heidelberg (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Linz, T., von Krshiwoblozki, M., Walter, H., Foerster, P.: Contacting electronics to fabric circuits with nonconductive adhesive bonding. J. Text. Inst. 103(10), 1139–1150 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Simonis, D.: Inventors and Inventions. vol. 2. Marshall Cavendish, Singapore (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  15. adafruit: Conductive Hook & Loop Tape (Velcro) - 3” long, 1 February 2016. https://www.adafruit.com/products/1324

  16. Nanda, G.: Accessorizing with networks. Master’s thesis, massachusetts institute of technology (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Seager, R., Chauraya, A., Zhang, S., Whittow, W., Vardaxoglou, Y.: Flexible radio frequency connectors for textile electronics. Electron. Lett. 49(2), 1371–1373 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Prym: Sew-on snap fasteners, brass 6–11 mm, 1 February 2016. http://www.prym-consumer.com/prym/proc/docs/produktdb_en.html?article=341270

  19. Lehn, D.I., Neely, C.W., Schoonover, K., Martin, T.L., Jones, M.T.: e-TAGs: e-textile attached gadgets. In: Proceedings of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems: Modeling and Simulation (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Linz, T., Kallmayer, C., Aschenbrenner, R., Reichl, H.: New interconnection technologies for the integration of electronics on textile substrates. Ambience 2005 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Ngai, G., Chan, S.C., Ng, V.T., Cheung, J.C., Choy, S.S., Lau, W.W., Tse, J.T.: I*CATch: a scalable plug-n-play wearable computing framework for novices and children. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI’10, New York, NY, USA, ACM, pp. 443–452 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Post, E.R., Orth, M.: Smart fabric, or wearable clothing. In: iswc, IEEE, p. 167 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Electronics, S.: LilyPad Arduino SimpleSnap., 7 April 2015. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10941

  24. Ohmatex: Washable textile connector, 20 December 2015. http://www.ohmatex.dk/?page_id=101

  25. Wilson, T., Slade, J.: Development of non-standard wearable connectors for a usb 2.0 textile cable. Technical report, DTIC Document (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  26. hayeon: How to connect conductive thread ribbon cable with Flexible Flat Cable (FFC) connectors., 20 December 2015. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-connect-conductive-thread-ribbon-cable-with/

  27. Apple: Apple 85W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter for MacBook Pro., 1 February 2016. http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD506LL/A/apple-85w-magsafe-2-power-adapter-for-macbook-pro-with-retina-display

  28. Vallese, J.: ‘Break-away’ cord aims to make deep fryers safer. CNN, July 4, 2001. http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/07/03/deep.fryers/index.html. Accessed 1 Feb, 2016

  29. Scheulen, K., Schwarz, A., Jockenhoevel, S.: Reversible contacting of smart textiles with adhesive bonded magnets. In: Proceedings of the 2013 International Symposium on Wearable Computers. ISWC’13, New York, NY, USA, ACM, pp. 131–132 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Righetti, X., Thalmann, D.: Proposition of a modular i2c-based wearable architecture. In: MELECON 2010 – 2010 15th IEEE Mediterranean Electrotechnical Conference, pp. 802–805 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Mehmann, A., Varga, M., Gönner, K., Tröster, G.: A ball-grid-array-like electronics-to-textile pocket connector for wearable electronics. In: Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers. ISWC’15, New York, NY, USA, ACM, pp. 57–60 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Kozel, C.: Zero insertion force miniature grid array socket., 10 June 1997 US Patent 5,637,008

    Google Scholar 

  33. Liu, W., Pecht, M.: IC Component Sockets. Wiley, New Jersey (2004)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  34. Harms, H., Amft, O., Tröster, G.: Does loose fitting matter?: predicting sensor performance in smart garments. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Body Area Networks. BodyNets’12, pp. 1–4 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Volino, P., Magnenat-Thalmann, N.: Accurate garment prototyping and simulation. Comput. Aided Des. Appl. 2(5), 645–654 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Part of this work was funded by the Simple Skin project from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013]) under grant agreement no. 323849. The pocket connector was developed in cooperation with two contributors. SEFAR, a Swiss textile company specialised in high precision fabrics for filtration, provided the fabrics, and Werner Gaschler and Peter Chabrecek provided helpful information on textile processing. Karl Gönner with the Institute of Textile Technology and Process Engineering (ITV) in Denkendorf did the textile integration.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andreas Mehmann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mehmann, A., Varga, M., Tröster, G. (2017). Reversible Contacting for Smart Textiles. In: Schneegass, S., Amft, O. (eds) Smart Textiles. Human–Computer Interaction Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50124-6_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50124-6_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50123-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50124-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics