Smart and Intelligent Textile materials

reduce the health risk and improve our

life style
Introduction:
Textiles of today are materials with applications in almost all our activities, we wear clothes all
the time and we are surrounded with textiles in almost all our environments. The integration of
multifunctional values in such a common material has become a special area of interest in recent
years. Fibres yarns, fabric and other structures with added-value functionality have been
developed for a range of applications. Textile materials and techniques have become an
important platform for high-tech innovations. Smart and intelligent Textile represents the next
generation of textiles anticipated for use in several fashion, furnishing and technical textile
applications.

Fig: Smart Textile.

Smart textiles are defined as textiles that can sense and react to environmental conditions or
stimuli from mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical or magnetic sources.

By the following application, Smart and Intelligent Textile materials reduce

the health risk and improve our life style.
Health Care:
The development of wearable monitoring systems is already having an effect on healthcare in the
form of Telemedicine. The integration of high-technology into textiles, e.g. modern
communication or monitoring systems or the development of new materials with new functions,
has just started with timidity, but the branch already propagates an enormous boom for this
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sector Personalized Health care The concept of personalized healthcare empowers the individual
with the management and assessment of their own healthcare needs. Wearable devices allow
physiological signals to be continuously monitored during normal daily activities. This can
overcome the problem of infrequent clinical visits that can only provide a brief window into the
physiological status of the patient. Smart clothing serves an important role in remote monitoring
of chronically ill patients or those undergoing rehabilitation. It also promotes the concept of
preventative healthcare. Given the current world demographics there is a need to shift the focus
of healthcare delivery from treatment to prevention and also to promote wellness monitoring
rather than diagnosis of illness.
SFIT for personal health monitoring, "so called" intelligent biomedical clothing was initiated in
the early.
It is one of the most important applications for SFIT wearable systems. The first promising
results (prototypes) have been achieved by few research teams in Europe and USA, following the
"application pull" approach. These prototypes incorporate mainly electrocardiogram and
respiration monitoring (and accessorily other physiological and physical parameters depending
on the targeted applications) by implementing strain fabric sensors and fabric electrodes.
Representative examples are e.g.:

Wireless-enabled garment with embedded textile sensors for simultaneous acquisition

and continuous Monitoring of ECG, respiration, EMG, and physical activity. The smart
cloth embeds a strain fabric sensor based on piezo resistive yarns and fabric electrodes
realized with metal based yarns.
Sensitized vest including fully woven textile sensors for ECG and respiratory frequency
detection and a Portable electronic board for motion assessment, signal pre-processing,
and Bluetooth connection for data Transmission.
Wearable sensitized garment that measures human heart rhythm and respiration using a
three lead ECG shirt. The conductive fiber grid and sensors are fully integrated (knitted)
in the garment (Smart Shirt).

Fig. shirt for measuring rehabilitation

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Health monitoring integrated in work wear:

Continuous monitoring of physiological parameters is not only a target for medical applications;
it could also be used by different professionals to protect from dangerous situations and injuries.
The projects directed towards professional make use of earlier developed technologies such as
conductive sensors for the measurement of heart and breathing rate and implements these
possibilities into a context, for example the firefighter situations. Several of these projects
combine the research on smart textiles and research in more traditional areas, for example new
type of protective coatings.

Fig: Work wear.

Life Jacket:
Life jacket is a medical device worn by the patient that consequently reads their blood pressure
or monitors the heart rate; the information is transferred to a computer and read by medical staff.
A specialized camera in the form of headwear has been developed to be worn by paramedics.
Visual information captured by the camera can be transferred directly to medical staff at the
hospital enabling them to advise instantly on appropriate treatment. Hypertension is another
common disease found in the elderly population. Elevated BP increases the workload of the heart
and scars the artery walls. Increases in either BP or BP variability (BPV) are partly responsible
for various cardiovascular events. Nevertheless, most individuals with hypertension experience
no symptoms, which often make them overlook their ailment. Thus, early detection of BP for
health condition assessment by wearable devices before a severe event occurs is very important.
Technologies advanced in Wearable BP monitoring focuses on continuous and noninvasive
measurement without using a cuff. Cuff-less BP can be measured from the radial pulse
waveform by arterial tonometry by using this life jacket.

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Fig: Life jacket.

Military/Defense:
In extreme environmental conditions and hazardous situations there is a need for real time
information technology to increase the protection and survivability of the people working in
those conditions. Improvements in performance and additional capabilities would be of immense
assistance within professions such as the defense forces and emergency response services. The
requirements for such situations are to monitor vital signs and ease injuries while also monitoring
environment hazards such as toxic gases. Wireless communication to a central unit allows
medics to conduct remote triage of casualties to help them respond more rapidly and safely.

Fig: Smart textile for military.

Fig: Military Textile

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Thermal Sensitivity:
Smart Skin hydrogel is a new technology involving a hydrophilic/hydrophobic copolymer, which
is embedded in an open-cell foam layer bonded to the inside of a closed-cell neoprene layer in a
composite wet suit fabric with nylon or nylon/Lycra outer and inner layers.
Smart Skin absorbs cold water that has flushed into the suit and expands to close openings at the
hands, feet and neck, preventing more water from entering. Water trapped inside the suit heats up
upon body contact. If the water warms up past a transition temperature determined by the
proportion of hydrophilic to hydrophobic components, the hydrogel releases water and contracts,
allowing more water to flush through the suit. This passive system constantly regulates the
internal temperature no batteries or mechanical action are needed.

Fig: Temperature sensitive Textiles.

Protective Textile:
It aims to rescue firefighters and civil protection workers using the wireless monitoring of heart
rate and temperature measurement. In this project, the heart rate was measured using integrated
textile sensors while temperature was measures via integrated conventional temperature sensors.
The concept consists of a belt and a tight-fitting t-shirt and a wearable interface for monitoring
the operators health status and potential risk in the environment.

Fig: Protective Textile.

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Life Belt:
Life belt is a trans-abdominal wearable device for long-term health monitoring that facilitates the
parental monitoring procedures for both the mother and the fetus. Hospitals and obstetric clinics,
on the other hand, might avoid the frequent visit of additional patients (most of them
hypochondriacs), so the remote health monitoring provided by this.
Life belt will contribute to a significant reduction of the hospitals load. The hospitals
efficiency in that way can be increased as well as the quality of the provided services. life belt
is also a valuable decision support tool for the obstetrician, who is enabled to monitor patients
remotely, evaluate automated preliminary diagnosis of their condition based on collected and
analyzed vital signs, access patients medical data at any time and most importantly be alerted
when potential pregnancy complications require physical examination of the patient.
Furthermore, the obstetricians are able to use mobile units and portable devices to organize their
work and increase their work efficiency and effectiveness. so this life belt is very useful in case
of pregnant women .Pregnant women living in remote areas work during pregnancy and face
certain health problems (e.g. high blood pressure, kinetic problems requiring immobilization,
kidney or heart diseases, multiple pregnancy). Usually they feel uncomfortable with frequent
visits for prenatal monitoring. The inaccessibility of the fetus, the sensitivity of fetal and
maternal health status and susceptibility to psychological conditions pose significant difficulties
in monitoring the progress of the pregnancy effectively. Furthermore, bulky or invasive
equipment and long examinations in clinical settings affect both the mother and the fetus causing
additional stress which influences their health. The use of a wearable platform able to monitor
non-invasively fetal and maternal vital signs could improve significantly their living conditions.

The Smart Bra:

One of the best examples for improving comfort thanks to electronics is an Australian invention:
the Smart Bra. Wallace et al at the University of Wollongong, have developed a bra that will
change its properties in response to breast movement. This bra will provide better support to
active women when they are in action.
The Smart Bra will tighten and loosen its straps, or stiffen and relax its cups to restrict breast
motion, preventing breast pain and sag. The conductive polymer coated fabrics will be used in
the manufacture of the Smart Bra. The fabrics can alter their elasticity in response to information
about how much strain they are under. The Smart Bra will be capable of instantly tightening and
loosening its straps or stiffening cups when it detects excessive movement.

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Fig: Smart Bra.

Pine cone inspired fabric to keep you cool:

Clothes with a weave that open and close like a pine cone could stop you from getting too hot or
cold. The textile consists of a layer of thin spikes of wool, or another water-absorbent material,
that opens up when it is made wet by the wearer's sweat. When the layer dries out, the spikes
automatically close up again. A second layer underneath protects the wearer from the rain. Pine
cones similarly use two layers of stiff fibres running in different directions to open up and release
their seeds when they fall to the ground. The seed release is stimulated by the lack of water as
they are cut off from the tree.

Fig: Pine cone inspired fabric.

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Smart Textile clothes developed for paraplegic patients:

The clothing could be used to analyze movement and protect the health of paraplegic patients.
Electronic textiles employing plastic electronic fibers could be used in the underwear and socks
of paraplegic patients. The underwear could have pressure sensors or wireless smart electronics,
which would detect if people were sat too long in one position and could prevent bed sores.

Fig: Smart Textile clothes developed for paraplegic patients.

Smart Sportswear:
One of the main applications of membranes is in the field of sportswear for the manufacture of
breathable and impermeable clothes. Indeed, with a simple system of membrane, fabrics
possessing an excellent water exchange are obtained with a good elimination of the sweat at the
garment interface (breathability) and the creation of an external barrier with extreme water
repellence. For example, the best provider of textile membranes is Gore that manufactures
unique wafer-thin micro porous membrane (Gore tex), which contains over 9 million pores per
square inch. Each pore is 20,000 times smaller than a water droplet, yet some 700 times bigger
than moisture vapor molecule. This gives the fabric the excellent levels of waterproofness and
breathability that the brand is famous for. Gore-Tex is a bi-component membrane, meaning that
it is made up of two parts.
The main part is made from expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE for short). This is then
combined with an oleophobic (oil hating) layer that protects the membrane from the natural oils
that the human body emits, insect repellents, cosmetics etc. The outer face of the Gore-Tex fabric
is coated with a hydrophobic DWR (Durable Water Repellency) treatment which encourages
surface water to bead up and run off, improving the wet weather performance of the garment and
promoting breathability by preventing wetting-out of the outer face.

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The sensory Baby Vest:

At the ITV Denkendorf, an interdisciplinary team of researchers has been developing a special
vest for babies. The sensory baby vest is equipped with sensors that enable the constant
monitoring of vital functions such as heart, lungs, skin and body temperature which can be used
in the early detection and monitoring of heart and circulatory illness. It is hoped to use this vest
to prevent cot death and other life-threatening situations in babies. The sensors are attached in a
way that they do not pinch or disturb the baby when it is sleeping.

Fig: The sensory Baby Vest.

Transport and Automotive use:

Modern contemporary cars contain control panels that activate heated seats, air-bags.
Transport and automotive industries is one of the largest that benefits from
interactive electronic and technical textiles. They have uses in space shuttles, aircraft and
racing cars.

Fashion and Entertainment:

Club wear that react to movement, heat and light. They include garments with panels that
illuminate when the dancer moves, or clothing that contain fiber optics woven and integrated into
the fabric.
The development of high-tech advanced textiles for initial high-value applications such as
extreme sports will eventually find its way into street fashion, with designers employing their
creativity to use these emerging materials in new ways. We are becoming increasingly reliant on
technology carrying MP3 players, laptops, mobile phones and digital cameras. These devices all
contain common components such as power supply, microprocessor, data transmission. As the
technology is becoming more flexible these could ultimately be integrated into a common textile
substrate - our clothes, becoming truly portable devices. Already there are textile switches
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integrated into clothing for the control of such devices. While technology may be hidden through
invisible coatings and advanced fibers, it can also be used to dramatically change the appearance
of the textile, giving new and dazzling effects. Light emitting textiles are finding their way onto
the haute couture catwalks, suggesting a future trend in technical garments. the haute couture
catwalks, suggesting a future trend in technical garments.

Fig: Smart fabrics for entertainment & fashion.

Conclusion:
Smart and intelligent Textiles are building an internationally acknowledged center for
innovation, development, design and production of the next generation's textiles. A lot of
commercial products are available and, as it was presented during this document; many scientists
are developing new solutions, ideas and concrete products. Some approximations reveal a market
size of 1 billion dollars by 2010, which certainly explains the current passion for these new
developments.so, from the assignment we gain vast knowledge about Smart and Intelligent
Textile materials reduce the health risk and improve our life style.

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Reference:

http://textilelearner.blogspot.com/2013/04/an-overview-of-smart-textile.html
http://textilelearner.blogspot.com/2013/04/applications-of-smart-and-interactive.html
http://www.indiantextilejournal.com/articles/FAdetails.asp?id=852
http://www.uttu-textiles.com/Home/Intorduction_to_Smart_Textiles.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-textiles
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/3/228/smart-and-intelligent-textiles2.asp
http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=8125
http://www.plusplasticelectronics.com/SmartFabTextiles/Smart-textile-clothesdeveloped-for-paraplegic-patients-9055.aspx
http://nypost.com/2013/12/04/microsoft-developing-smart-bra/
http://www.smarttextiles.se/en/about.
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://csis.pace.edu/~marchese/CS396x/L3/smarttexttiles.p
df&sa=U&ei=dGXPUp6WOMexrgfy_4D4BQ&ved=0CB8QFjAA&sig2=n2hItiskbDDFEU8sIaKxA&usg=AFQjCNGSx8_3Fe72yCg_5azKBeZYw_hIyw

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