OPTIMIZED SYSTEMS

Touch-Screen Sofas, Smart Car Seats and Other E-Textile Uses

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 01-13-12 | Comments

Scientists in Canada recently created a flexible, washable smart fabric. Textiles like this could be used to dim the lights by swiping your sofa or turn up car volume by squeezing your seat. But they could also have more beneficial applications in hospitals and on the battlefield.

Interest in electronic textiles and smart fabrics has been on the rise in recent years. New work by researchers at the Polytechnic School in Montreal, Canada, enables fabric to behave like a tablet' or smartphone�s touch screen. While the technology could have fun applications�like the ability to change the TV channel by swiping your couch�it could also save lives in military and medical environments.

The team created a fiber made of soft polymers and extra-thin copper wire, making it flexible enough to stitch into fabrics. Like a touch-screen, the electrical properties of the fiber can be changed, depending on how and where a user touches it.

"In essence, we are trying to reproduce the smartphone experience in textile form," researcher Maksim Skorobogatiy told "New Scientist." We are looking for applications where we can weave in sleek, noninvasive control, avoiding blocks of pushbuttons."

To create the flexible fibers, researchers heated and stretched the materials until they were soft and elastic. "The resulting [fibers] are easy to use in conventional weaving processes,� Skorobogatiy said.

They then wove the fibers into a piece of material approximately 4 by 6 inches large. Finger swipes altered the electric charge of the special fabric, whose currents were tracked by software designed by the team. Like a smartphone, the software could determine finger movements made on the fabric.

A major setback for most smart fibers has been the difficulty in cleaning them. But because this fiber is well insulated and very thin, it is easy to clean and would work well in messy environments like houses and automobiles. According to "New Scientist," BMW is already working to implement smart fabrics like this into its cars.

While the study suggests household uses like adjusting air conditioning, the uses of smart fabric could also extend into military and medical applications. A soldier�s shirt, for example, could monitor his pulse and blood pressure and call for help in times of distress.

You can read more about the study, recently published in "Smart Materials and Structures," here.