Development of the Core Technology for the Creation of Electronically-Active, Smart Yarn
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE CORE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE CREATION OF ELECTRONICALLY-ACTIVE, SMART YARN ANURA SARATHCHANDRA RATHNAYAKE A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Nottingham Trent University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2015 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This work is the intellectual property of the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed in the owner of the Intellectual Property Rights. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my Director of Studies Professor Tilak Dias for providing me with this great opportunity and incredible support throughout the PhD research work. It would have been impossible to complete this successful, unique piece of research work without his great supervision. My thanks also go to my second supervisor Professor Philip Breedon for his support and guidance. My sincere thanks also go to Professor Tom Fisher for his incredible support and encouragement. And I was also very lucky to have the support of Dr. Colin Cork and Dr. Dorothy Hardy. I do appreciate their valuable support and guidance. My thanks also go to Carlos Oliveira, Ekael Mbise, Vajira Peiris, Dilusha Rajapaksha, Pasindu Lugoda, Dr. Katherine Townsend, Anna Piper, Sharon Haywood, Simon Johnson, Philip Stovell, Erica Just, Sue Turton, Susan Allcock, Jez Keeling and Richard Arm who provided me with professional support to carry out the research. I would like to extend my appreciation to Professor Neil Gorman, the previous Vice Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University for the award of the Vice Chancellor’s Bursary. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Nirmali De Silva, who was my BSc Engineering Degree supervisor, and Dr. Dilruk Yahathugoda for his encouragement and support that enabled me to carry out this research work successfully. My thanks also go to all the members of staff of the Advanced Textiles Research Group and academic, non-academic staff and research colleagues at Nottingham Trent University who provided me wonderful, professional support to carry out the research. Finally, I wish to give special thanks for my family, relatives and friends including Brigadier Jayalath Galgamuwa, Brigadier Hiran Halangoda, Chamara Perea, Piyumi Abeysinghe, Dr. Roshan de Silva, Nayomi Perera and W Wickremesinghe for their incredible moral support to achieve my desired tough target. ii ABSTRACT The general use of textiles began twenty-seven thousand years ago. However, today, textiles are used, not only in the production of clothing but are also found in numerous applications in medicine, the military, transport, construction sectors and in many industrial applications. Normally textiles are passive, however active textiles have been developed that exhibit the capability of adapting their functionality according to changes in their surroundings, i.e. environment. Such textiles are known as Smart and Interactive Textiles (SMIT) and are capable of sensing and being active. The integration of semiconductor devices into textiles has enormous potential in the creation of SMIT. Such SMIT structures will pave the way for the creation of truly-wearable electronic systems in the near future. The aim of this research is the development of a core technology for embedding functional semiconductor devices within the fibres of a yarn, in order to create electronically-active yarns (e-yarn). Such electronically-active yarns will be the building blocks of the next generation of wearable electronics. Moreover, this will facilitate the creation of innovative solutions able to overcome current problems and difficulties which the manufacturers of wearable textiles are experiencing and open the doors for designers to develop the next generation of truly-wearable computers which are comfortable to wear, flexible and washable. The e-yarns could be used in medical applications such as monitoring of ECG, respiratory patterns, blood pressure and skin temperature. They could be adopted by industries such as automotive, retail, manufacturing, military, the internet of soft things, consumer products, sports, fashion and entertainment. The development of the core technology required raw materials analysis in terms of physical, mechanical and electrical properties; creation of interconnections of electronic semi-conductor chips with copper filaments; encapsulation of the interconnections to improve washability and provide extra mechanical strength to the core filaments prior to making the final yarn. The final step was the process of manufacturing yarns using the knit braiding technique. A number of prototypes of e-textiles were produced including illuminated yarns, thermistor yarns, RFID yarns, magnetic yarns, vibration sensor yarns, illuminated garment, illuminated car seat, RFID-intergraded garments, a temperature- monitoring fabric mat and temperature-monitoring socks in order to investigate the manufacturing viability, identify practical issues, and to promote the technology to attract further funds and potential commercial partners. iii CONTENTS COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ............................................................................................ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... iii CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... ix RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................ xix i. Patent ................................................................................................................... xix ii. Publications and conference proceedings ........................................................... xix iii. Exhibitions ........................................................................................................ xx CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background Information ......................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Application of Electronic Textiles ................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Issues for Current Applications of Electronic Textiles .................................... 1 1.1.3 State of the Art of Electronic Textiles.............................................................. 2 1.2 The Aims and Objectives of the Study ................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Methodology............................................................................................ 3 1.3.1 Conductive Yarn and Electronic Devices ........................................................ 5 1.3.2 Soldering .......................................................................................................... 5 1.3.3 Encapsulation and Yarn Formation .................................................................. 5 1.4 Structure of Theses .................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................................. 8 2.0 Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 8 2.1 Textiles .................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Textile Fibre Classification .............................................................................. 8 2.1.2 Textile Yarn Classification .............................................................................. 9 2.1.3 The Methodologies Available to Convert Fibres into Fabrics ....................... 10 2.2 Electronic Components ......................................................................................... 13 2.2.1 Semiconductor................................................................................................ 14 2.3 Electronic Textiles ................................................................................................ 14 2.3.1 Early Examples .................................................................................................. 16 2.3.2 Attachment of Electronic Components into Pockets ......................................... 16 2.3.3 Attachment of Electronic Components into Garments/Textiles ........................ 17 2.3.4 Integration of Electrically Conducting Fibres ................................................ 20 2.3.5 Semi-Conductors Embedded Within Yarn..................................................... 21 2.3.6 Highlighted Funded Projects on E-Textiles ................................................... 22 2.3.7 Current Situation of Global Wearable Electronics