Electronically Functional Yarn

BACKGROUND The majority of everyday clothing consists of textile fibres knitted or woven to produce a fabric. Their primary purpose is structural and aesthetic. Fibres can have added functionality by the integration of electronics into the material from which they are formed. Our vision is to enable the introduction of functional textiles and garments that can be easily cleaned and used without special treatments. The integration of this new functionality dimension into fibres will turn everyday objects into intelligent artefacts which are washable. State of the art work, in wearable systems comprises of packaged integrated electronic components and protective casing, interconnected with each other by means of conductive fibres. This is a bulky, inelegant solution for wearable computing and limits the wider adoption of wearable computing. THE TECHNOLOGY A new technology is being developed at the William Lee Innovation Centre (School of Materials, University of Manchester), with the potential to change the way advanced circuits and systems are packaged within textile fibres in the future. This technology has the potential to integrate extremely powerful circuits and systems with traditional textile fibres, which will create the fundamentals for the realisation of integrating information technology into everyday objects and in particular into high-tech-textile products. KEY BENEFITS The proprietary technology enables a basic electronic unit, such as the transistor, to be embedded into the fibres that make up the textiles and garments. Our goal is to turn existing “electronic bricks around the body” into a comfortable, flexible and wearable textile form. With the successful integration of these yarns into apparel, the infrastructure for making a computer “truly wearable” will be initiated.
• Fully washable garments, fibres or other textile structures
• Existing manufacturing techniques are used.
• Electronic component is very small – (limited impact on aesthetics
• Versatile – wide-range of electronic devices can be incorporated
• Textile structures/products created via existing manufacturing techniques INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY An international patent has been filed. APPLICATIONS Electronic yarns for integration into textiles for wearable applications will impact on the way of life for many people. The delivery of healthcare has changed dramatically with the information technology revolution, including new capabilities for the acquisition of patient information through non-invasive sensing and imaging. Our encapsulation technology will provide the platform for the next generation of wearable, non-invasive, personal and medical sensing systems. Furthermore, in the healthcare sector it could enable the status and vital sign monitoring of the ever-growing elderly population. The demand for functional fibres is in the increase this century, and some important application areas of our electronically functional yarn are:
• Wearable computing
• Smart wound-care
• RFID
• Healthcare monitoring COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITY The technology is currently at a stage where ‘Proof-of-Principle’ has been established. The team would like to hear from companies with interests in:
• RFID, especially within apparel
• Wearable computing

Type of Offer: Licensing



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