International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR) ISSN: 2319-4413

Volume 3, No. 4, April 2014

i-Explore International Research Journal Consortium www.irjcjournals.org
8
E-Textiles: A Review

Dr. Devanand Uttam, Associate Professor,

Department of Textile Engineering, Giani Zail Singh Punjab Technical
University Campus, Bathinda (Punjab), India


ABSTRACT:

Presently, textile manufactures and researcher are
working on various new fields to provide high featured
textiles for twenty first century customers. One of
successful efforts in this side is the development of E-
textiles by integrating the textile with electronics; in which
familiarity with clothing allows sensors and computational
elements to be naturally integrated into garments such
that wearability and usability is preserved. E- textiles may
find useful in many areas such as: ornament, fashion,
communication, entertainment, health, military, sports and
safety etc. In this paper, technology, special features and
applications of e-textile have been reviewed.

Keywords:
Electronic textiles, E-textiles, intelligent clothing, smart
textiles.


1. INTRODUCTION

E-textiles are fabrics that enable computing, digital
components, and electronics to be embedded in them. In
near future, we shall be covered with the e-textiles. E-
textiles are known as electronic textiles and during the
development of wearable technology, electronic
technology are referred as smart textiles or intelligent
textiles. An electronic textile refers to a textile substrate
that incorporates capabilities for sensing (biometric or
external), communication (usually wireless), power
transmission, and interconnection technology to allow
sensors or things such as information processing devices
to be networked together within a fabric. These fabrics
have electronics and interconnections woven into them,
with physical flexibility and size that cannot be achieved
with existing electronic manufacturing techniques.
Components and interconnections are intrinsic to the
fabric and thus are less visible and not susceptible to
becoming tangled together or snagged by the
surroundings. E-textiles can also more easily adapt to
changes in the sensing and computational requirements of
an application. Electronic textiles do not strictly include
wearable computing because emphasis is placed on the
seamless integration between the fabric and the electronic
elements, such as cables, microcontrollers, sensors and
actuators. An e-textile can be worn in everyday situations
where currently available wearable computers would
hinder the user. The scope of e-textile is unlimited. It has
been felt that soon textiles will be merged with electronics
in all areas. [1-4]

Smart fabrics are ones which can change/react
automatically to their surroundings. Smart fabrics (-or
intelligent textiles) are being developed to be able to sense
what is happening t o the wearer or it immediate
surroundings. An example of t his would be smart shirt
with capacity to know when the wearers heart rat e spikes
or drops unexpectedly, then being able to send such
information to appropriate people. There is a substantive
difference between the terms, Smart and Intelligent, Smart
materials or textiles can be defined as the materials and
structures which can sense the environment al conditions
or stimuli; whereas intelligent textiles can be defined as
textile structures which not only can sense but can also
react and respond to environmental conditions or stimuli.
These stimuli as well as response could be thermal,
chemical, mechanical, electric or magnetic. [4]

In future wearable computers would be launched; they will
contain ICs in fabric to develop fabric keyboards and other
wearable computer devices. These types of products are
known as Interactive Electronic Textiles (IET). These
Interactive electronic textiles may find useful in many
traditional, fashion and industrial textile applications in the
form of communication, entertainment, health and safety.
Growing consumer interest in computer, mobile and
electronic devises will initiate the demand for IET
products. [5,6]


2. TYPES OF E-TEXTILES

The area e-textiles can be broadly divided into following
two types [1, 4]:
1) Common type of e-textile: Mounting classical
electronic devices such as conducting wires,
integrated circuits (ICs), LEDs, and conventional
batteries into garments.
2) Modern e-textile: E-textiles with modern
electronics directly on the textile fibers. This can
include either passive electronics such as pure
wires, conducting textile fibers, or more advanced
electronics such as transistors, diodes and solar
cells. The field of embedding advanced electronic
components onto textile fibers is sometimes
referred to as fibretronics.
International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR) ISSN: 2319-4413
Volume 3, No. 4, April 2014


i-Explore International Research Journal Consortium www.irjcjournals.org
9
The most common approach to e-textiles, today comprise
the first type. Conductive textile is a fabric which can
conduct electricity. Conductive textiles can be made with
metal strands woven into the construction of the textile.
There is also a interest in semi-conducting textiles, made
by impregnating normal textiles with carbon- or metal-
based powders. Conductive fibers consist of a non-
conductive or less conductive substrate, which is then
either coated or embedded with electrically conductive
elements, often carbon, nickel, copper, gold, silver, or
titanium. Substrates typically include cotton, polyester,
nylon, stainless steel t o high performance fibers such as
aramids.

3. FIBRETRONICS

The construction of electronic capabilities on textile fibers
requires the use of conducting and semi-conducting
materials such as a Conductive Textile. There are a
number of commercial fibers available in the market that
includes metallic fibres mixed with textile fibers to form
conducting fibers that can be woven or sewn. However,
because both metals and classical semiconductors are stiff
material, they are not very suitable for making electronic
textile. Organic electronics material is more suitable for e-
textiles because they can be conducting, semiconducting,
and designed as inks and plastics. Some advanced
functions are demonstrated in the lab stage: Organic fiber
transistors (the textile fiber transistor that is completely
compatible with textile manufacturing and that contains no
metals at all) and Organic solar cells on fibers. [1]

4. APPLICATIONS OF E-TEXTILES

Production, research and innovation in e-textiles is
depends upon its application. The area of application of e-
textiles (and smarts textile in broader sense) as under [1, 7-
11]:
i. Fashion & life style purpose
ii. Ornament purpose
iii. Entertainment purpose
iv. Communication & interaction purpose.
v. Medical (health) purpose
vi. Protection & Safety purpose etc.
vii. Sports & Outdoor Purpose
viii. Military Purposes
ix. Other applications
i. Fashion & Lifestyle purpose: One area of application
of textile is fashion and life style. These include mobile
entertainment (MP3 J ackets), lightening and actuated
decoration elements on cloths, touch sensitive shirts etc.
ii. Ornamental purpose: e-textiles are also used for
decoration and ornamental purposes such as: curtains, wall
hangings, carpet, pillows, decoration elements, and carpet
embedded guidance systems in buildings. It is also used in
car upholstery.
iii. Entertainment purpose: It can be developed clothing
that can constantly project the video of our choosing,
wearing a robe covered in a display that actually projects
the night sky in realtime, wearable gaming console,
talking to people over the phone just by making a hand
gesture and activating electronics in your lapel, then
merely thinking about what you want to say (thought-to-
speech interfaces).
iv. Communication & interaction purpose: The e-textile
is used in the field of communication and interaction.
These include: work flow assistance and surveillance,
hand free human-computer interaction (e.g. wearable
motion capture or speech controlled systems), location
awareness, mobile information exchange etc.
v. Medical (health) purpose: In this area, e-textile is
used to monitor vital signs, transmit this data and promote
well-being. It helps to improve the lifestyle of people who
require medical treatment, rehabilitation after medical
treatment and enhancing the lifestyle of elderly persons by
assisting declining body functions. The e-textile is able to
measure of various body motion parameters during
walking. The textile sensors generally monitor heartrate.
The development of biochemical-sensing techniques and
their integration into textiles adds a new dimension to bio-
textile-sensor technology: analyzing body fluids via textile
sensors. The two yarns (hydrophilic and hydrophobic
yarns) can be woven to direct the sweat through fabric
channels to a sensor area. Body fluids can provide
valuable data about a persons well being. Some common
applications of e-textile in medical or health area are:
medical monitoring suits, ECG T-shirts, homecare and
rehabilitation, remote telemedicine, remote baby
monitoring, vital signs monitoring blankets in hospital. For
those people that need around-the-clock monitoring are
confined to rooms for stationary monitoring. By
integrating monitoring sensors comfortably into clothing it
allows these people to lead a more normal lifestyle.
vi. Protection & Safety purpose: The etextile also used
for protection and safety purposes. Some examples are:
active heating and cooling cloths, constant monitoring of
vital signs for elderly persons, fire fighter clothes, space
suits, smart surgery suits etc.
vii. Sports & Outdoor: E-textile is also used for
monitoring for body functions (respiration rate, breathing
frequency, body temperature, heartrate) and mobile
communication such as: ski glove, GPS outdoor jackets,
smart jogging shoes, kinaesthetic monitoring for athlete
training, ECG bra or shirts etc.
viii. Military Purposes: Electronic textile used for
various military work and research purposes. Bio-feedback
can track a soldiers vital signs to enhance endurance and
overall health such as socks with pressure sensors that
alert him to put his feet upto lower blood pressure.
Environment sensing can detect enemies, or potential
biochemical threats, approaching vehicles, direction of any
sound. Fabric can change the colour according to
International Journal of IT, Engineering and Applied Sciences Research (IJIEASR) ISSN: 2319-4413
Volume 3, No. 4, April 2014


i-Explore International Research Journal Consortium www.irjcjournals.org
10
surroundings. E-textile can facilitate medical diagnosis
and provide treatment.
ix. Other applications: Some other applications of e-
textiles are: large size display (luminescent curtains),
colour change event wardrobe in promotion and event
industry, solar cell powered bags, garment, textile
switches, bags etc. E-textile is also used in computer
assisted working such as: work flow assistance and
surveillance, hands-free human-computer interaction (e.g.
wearable motion-capture or speech-controlled systems),
location awareness, mobile information exchange etc.

5. CONCLUSION

The special features of the e-textile provide unlimited
scope for it. In near future, all of us enjoying the benefits
of e-textiles or wearable computers. The area of e-textile is
broadly divided into two groups: i. e-textiles with classical
electronic devices, and ii. e-textiles with modern
electronics directly on the textile fibers. E-textiles can be
used for the purpose of aesthetic, ornamental,
entertainment, communication, medical, safety and
sportswear etc. Although, most of the innovation and
developments in e-textiles are limited upto laboratory,
but the future of e-textile will be very bright.

6. REFERENCES

[1] E-Textile, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-textiles -
accessed on 15.01.14
[2] E-textile lab, http://www.ccm.ece.vt.edu/ etextiles,
accessed on 25.02.14
[3] J OANNA BERZOWSKA, Electronic Textiles:
Wearable Computers, Reactive Fashion, and Soft
Computation, Textile, Volume 3, Issue 1, pp. 219.
[4] E textiles- The smart and intelligent textiles @
VIFTA, http://today.vidya.edu.in/etextiles-the-
smart-and- intelligent-textiles-vift/- Accessed on
18.03.2014
[5] Chidambaram R.K., Technical Textiles: An
Overview, http://www.fibre2fashion.com/ industry-
article/pdffiles/ technical-textiles-an-over-view.pdf
[6] Technical Textile, http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Technical_textile - accessed on 16.01.2014
[7] Crunchwear, http://www.crunchwear.com/
category/technologies/e-textiles/- accessed on
08.02.2014
[8] Hibbert, R., Textile Innovation: interactive,
contemporary and traditional materials. London:
Line, p.103, (2004).
[9] Kohler, A. R. End-of-life implications of electronic
textiles, Thesis for Master of Science in
Environment and Policy, Sweden, (2008),
http:lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFil
e&recordOId=1480555&fileOId =1480556
accessed on 18.01.2014
[10] Voss, D., Smart Home Care: New Diagnostic
Devices Could Save an ER Visit. MIT Technology
Review, (2001): p.31.
[11] Dean, K., Smart Fatigues Hear Enemy Coming.
Wired News, October 22 (2002).
http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,55764,
00.html, accessed on 02.01.2014.