Direct Integration of Individually Controlled Emissive Pixels Into Knit Fabric for Fabric-Based Dynamic Display

Abstract

The creation of fabrics capable of dynamically communicating information would have a great impact on future smart fabric technologies for applications ranging from fashion and entertainment to biomedical monitoring. Typically, state-of-the-art displays are fabricated onto flexible substrates and then mounted onto textiles. However, recent progress in fabricating electroluminescent (EL) fiber-shaped devices that can be directly integrated into knitted and woven structure has unlocked new opportunities for developing fabric-integrated displays. Here, a novel method of directly integrating an EL system into a network of fibers to create a dynamic knit display is presented. A 4-pixel prototype with individually controllable pixels disposed within a knitted fabric matrix is demonstrated. The control system and structure of isolated pixels in the knit fabric matrix are explained. Important display features based on the prototype performance that demonstrate the current and future potential of this structure are reported.