Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable Applications

Electronic textiles demand a new family of flexible circuit boards in the construction of fiber or fiber assemblies. This paper presents a stretchable woven fabric circuit board (FCB) with permanent as well as detachable electrical connections to sensors or other wearable electronics components. The...

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Main Authors: Qiao Li, Ziyuan Ran, Xin Ding, Xi Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2019-08-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/17/3745
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author Qiao Li
Ziyuan Ran
Xin Ding
Xi Wang
author_facet Qiao Li
Ziyuan Ran
Xin Ding
Xi Wang
author_sort Qiao Li
collection DOAJ
description Electronic textiles demand a new family of flexible circuit boards in the construction of fiber or fiber assemblies. This paper presents a stretchable woven fabric circuit board (FCB) with permanent as well as detachable electrical connections to sensors or other wearable electronics components. The woven FCB was created by integrating conductive yarns into an elastic woven fabric. Permanent connection was designed between the conductive tracks and flexible sensors; detachable connection was achieved by the helical structure of conductive yarns wrapping around the rigid component electrode encapsulated within elastomeric layer. The developed FCB, with its connections to flexible sensors or rigid components, is porous, flexible, and capable of stretching to 30% strain. The woven FCB with permanent connection to temperature sensors has a large fatigue life of more than 10,000 cycles while maintaining constant electrical resistance due to crimped configurations of the conductive track in the elastic fabric substrate and stable contact resistance. A prototype of the FCB assembly, with independent light-emitting diodes electrically linked and mechanically supported by the woven FCB, is also demonstrated for wearable applications.
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spelling doaj.art-70c74a27d8614780aa79f45c307a1a482022-12-22T04:04:02ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202019-08-011917374510.3390/s19173745s19173745Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable ApplicationsQiao Li0Ziyuan Ran1Xin Ding2Xi Wang3Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, ChinaKey Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, ChinaKey Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, ChinaEngineering Research Center of Digitized Textile & Apparel Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Information Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, ChinaElectronic textiles demand a new family of flexible circuit boards in the construction of fiber or fiber assemblies. This paper presents a stretchable woven fabric circuit board (FCB) with permanent as well as detachable electrical connections to sensors or other wearable electronics components. The woven FCB was created by integrating conductive yarns into an elastic woven fabric. Permanent connection was designed between the conductive tracks and flexible sensors; detachable connection was achieved by the helical structure of conductive yarns wrapping around the rigid component electrode encapsulated within elastomeric layer. The developed FCB, with its connections to flexible sensors or rigid components, is porous, flexible, and capable of stretching to 30% strain. The woven FCB with permanent connection to temperature sensors has a large fatigue life of more than 10,000 cycles while maintaining constant electrical resistance due to crimped configurations of the conductive track in the elastic fabric substrate and stable contact resistance. A prototype of the FCB assembly, with independent light-emitting diodes electrically linked and mechanically supported by the woven FCB, is also demonstrated for wearable applications.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/17/3745fabric circuit boarddetachable connectionflexible sensorsrigid componentswearable technology
spellingShingle Qiao Li
Ziyuan Ran
Xin Ding
Xi Wang
Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable Applications
Sensors
fabric circuit board
detachable connection
flexible sensors
rigid components
wearable technology
title Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable Applications
title_full Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable Applications
title_fullStr Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable Applications
title_full_unstemmed Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable Applications
title_short Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable Applications
title_sort fabric circuit board connecting to flexible sensors or rigid components for wearable applications
topic fabric circuit board
detachable connection
flexible sensors
rigid components
wearable technology
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/17/3745
work_keys_str_mv AT qiaoli fabriccircuitboardconnectingtoflexiblesensorsorrigidcomponentsforwearableapplications
AT ziyuanran fabriccircuitboardconnectingtoflexiblesensorsorrigidcomponentsforwearableapplications
AT xinding fabriccircuitboardconnectingtoflexiblesensorsorrigidcomponentsforwearableapplications
AT xiwang fabriccircuitboardconnectingtoflexiblesensorsorrigidcomponentsforwearableapplications