Abstract
In this work, an embroidered textile moisture sensor is presented. The sensor is based on a capacitive interdigitated structure embroidered on a cotton substrate with an embroidery conductor yarn composed of 99% pure silver plated nylon yarn 140/17 dtex. In order to evaluate the sensor sensitivity, the impedance of the sensor has been measured by means of a impedance meter (LCR) from 20 Hz to 20 kHz in a climatic chamber with a sweep of the relative humidity from 25% to 65% at 20 °C. The experimental results show a clear and controllable dependence of the sensor impedance with the relative humidity. Moreover, the reproducibility of the sensor performance subject to the manufacturing process variability and washing process is also evaluated. The results show that the manufacturing variability introduces a moisture measurement error up to 4%. The washing process impact on the sensor behavior after applying the first washing cycle implies a sensitivity reduction higher than 14%. Despite these effects, the textile sensor keeps its functionality and can be reused in standard conditions. Therefore, these properties point out the usefulness of the proposed sensor to develop wearable applications within the health and fitness scope including when the user needs to have a life cycle longer than one-time use.
Highlights
Textiles have been revealed as a natural and convenient substrate choice in the development of wearable electronic applications due to the fact that humans have been covering our body with fabrics for thousands of years [1]
This fact, together with the rapid miniaturization of electronic components and the development of new materials is allowing for the integration of electronic functionalities on fabrics, using well known textile manufacturing techniques, such as weaving knitting, embroidery, etc
Among the different embroidery e-textile applications, in the last years, a great effort has been focused on designing new e-textile sensors that are included in garments [4]
Summary
Textiles have been revealed as a natural and convenient substrate choice in the development of wearable electronic applications due to the fact that humans have been covering our body with fabrics for thousands of years [1]. This fact, together with the rapid miniaturization of electronic components and the development of new materials is allowing for the integration of electronic functionalities on fabrics, using well known textile manufacturing techniques, such as weaving knitting, embroidery, etc. Among the different embroidery e-textile applications, in the last years, a great effort has been focused on designing new e-textile sensors that are included in garments [4]. In order to guarantee the long term functionality of these devices, two topics should be addressed: the variability of the electrical behavior with the manufacturing process and the functionality of the involved e-textiles after washing cycles
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