Abstract
Wider adoption of electronic textiles requires integration of small electronic components into textile fabrics, without comprising the textile qualities. A solution is to create a flexible yarn that incorporates electronic components within the fibres of the yarn (E-yarn). The production of these novel E-yarns was initially a craft skill, with the inclusion of package dies within the fibres of the yarn taking about 90 min. The research described here demonstrated that it is possible to produce E-yarns on an industrial scale by automating the manufacturing process. This involved adapting printed circuit board manufacturing technology and textile yarn covering machinery. The production process started with re-flow soldering of package dies onto fine multi-strand copper wire. A carrier yarn was then placed in parallel with the copper wire to provide tensile strength. The package die and adjacent carrier yarn were then encapsulated in a polymer micro-pod to provide protection from moisture ingress and from mechanical strain on the die and solder joints. The process was then completed by surrounding the micro-pod and copper interconnects with additional fibres, held tightly together with a knitted fibre-sheath. This prototype, automated production process reduced the time for embedding one micro-device within a yarn to 6 min, thus increasing the production speed, demonstrating that automation of the E-yarn production process is feasible. Prototype garments have been created using E- yarns. Further developments can include automated transfer of the yarn components from one stage of production to the next, enabling greater increases in speed of manufacture of E yarns.
Highlights
The growing market for electronic textiles is predicted to be ‘approaching $5bn by 2027’ (Hayward 2017) showing that there is a desire to place electronics within clothing (Tomico et al 2017)
Further developments led to integration of electronics into textiles through incorporation of small electronic components such as multi-terminal package dies within the yarn structure (Dias 2005, 2016)
An intermediate stage was added to the production process, in which textile yarns were wrapped around the copper wire that formed the conductive core of the electronic yarns (E-yarns), before the E-yarn core was inserted into a knitted sheath
Summary
The growing market for electronic textiles is predicted to be ‘approaching $5bn by 2027’ (Hayward 2017) showing that there is a desire to place electronics within clothing (Tomico et al 2017). Further developments led to integration of electronics into textiles through incorporation of small electronic components such as multi-terminal package dies within the yarn structure (Dias 2005, 2016). These electronic yarns (E-yarns) have been developed over the course of 13 years
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