INTELLIGENT TEXTILES FOR

MEDICAL APPLICATIONS:
Smart textiles
• Able to sense stimuli from the environment, to
react to them and adapt to them by integration
of functionalities in the textile structure.
• The stimulus as well as the response can have
an electrical, thermal, chemical, magnetic or
other origin.
Types
Intelligence can be divided in three subgroups
• Passive Smart Textiles can only sense the
environment, they are sensors;
• Active Smart Textiles can sense the stimuli
from the environment and also react to them,
besides the sensor function, they also have an
actuator function;
• Very Smart Textiles take a step further, having
the gift to adapt their behaviour to the
circumstances.
• The change in the material is clearly visible, but
sometimes it takes place on a molecular level,
completely invisible to the human eye.
• The application possibilities offered by these
materials are only limited by human imagination.
• Smart clothing will find applications in fields
where the need for monitoring and actuation
can be of vital importance, such as a medical
environment, and with vulnerable population
groups (new borns, elderly).
Why textiles are used?
• Textiles show several advantages.
• Clothes are unique in several aspects.
• They are extremely versatile in products as well as processes
• The building stones of the textile material are fibres or filaments.
• Innumerable combinations of these source materials result into a
whole range of textile materials.
• Fibres are available in a very broad range of materials, single or
combined: natural or synthetic, strong, elastic, biocompatible,
biodegradable, solid or porous, optical or electro-conductive.
• They can have varying lengths, fineness, cross-sectional shape,
surface roughness, etc.
• Fibres of various origins can be arranged at random or in a
strictly organised way in yams or fabric structure
• Clothes make contact with a considerable part of the body.
• Textiles and clothes can be produced on fast and
productive machinery at reasonable cost
• It is clear that the intelligent character of the textile
material can be introduced at different levels
• Full success however will only be achieved when the
sensors and all related components are entirely converted
into 100% textile materials.
• This is a big challenge because, apart from technical
considerations, concepts, materials, structures and
treatments must be focus on the appropriateness for use in
or as a textile material.
• This includes criteria like flexibility, water (laundry)
resistance, durability against deformation, radiation etc.
• Most signals are transformed into electric ones.
• Electro conductive materials are consequently
of utmost importance with respect to intelligent
textiles.
THE FUNCTIONS OF SMART TEXTILES
• Sensors
• Data processing
• Actuators
• Storage
• Communication
Sensor function
• The goal is to create clothing with integrated
sensor function.
• To reach this goal two tracks can be followed:
– Based on existing sensor technology, sensors
can be miniaturised until they can be
integrated into garments;
– The textile fabric itself can be given sensing
properties.
• The textile is in contact with the skin over a large body area.
• This means that monitoring can take place at several locations at
the body.
• Some examples of body parameters that are mentioned in
literature are
– Temperature.
– Biopotentials: cardiogram, myography.
– Acoustic: heart, lungs, digestion, joints.
– Ultrasound: blood flow.
– Motion: respiration, movement.
– Chemicals (sweat).
– Electric properties of the skin.
– Mechanical properties of the skin.
– Pressure: blood.
Textile sensors in particular struggle with the
following problems:
– The flexibility and deformability required for
comfort interfere with sensor stability,
– Biosignals tend to have relatively low
amplitude (e.g. IlV),
– Long term stability is affected by wear and
laundry.
The intellitex suit
• The Intellitex suit mentioned earlier combines
heart and respiration rate measurements in one
garment.
• The respiration sensor is a knitted belt called
'Respibelt '.
• It is also made of a stainless steel yarn.
• The basic concept of this sensor could also be
used as a strain sensor, for instance to control
tension applied in pressure bandages.
The Lifoshirt™ by Vivometrics
• The LifeShirt™ is a sleeveless undergarment
• It is made of a comfortable and washable stretch-material.
• Contains one or more elongated bands of elastic material.
• Each of these bands is stretchable in the longitudinal
direction and contains at least one conductive wire
• For monitoring certain physiological functions where a
higher degree of sensitivity and accuracy is required,
more wires are used.
• They form a single continuous conductive circuit that
encircles the monitored area as many times as there are
wires.
• The bands of elastic material may be formed in any
conventional way, which includes warp knitting,
weft knitting, weaving, braiding or a nonwoven
construction.
• Warp knitting however is preferable, because it is
easy to create
• bands having narrow widths.
• The conductive wire is either incorporated into the
elastic fabric structure or is sewn to the surface
afterwards.
• A copper wire is used as conductive wire.
• The wires are attached to a monitoring unit.
Monitoring of body parameters
• Based on physical sensors, such as electrodes,
thermistors, and accelerometers.
• These sensors respond to physical changes in their
environment, for example, electric fields, heat,
and movement.
• Textile electrodes can be used to detect electric
signals from the body, such as
– Electrocardiography (ecg) from the heart and
– Electromyography (emg) from skeletal muscles.
Textile
• Textile strain gauges and pressure sensors can detect
body movements, such as breathing movements and
foot pressure.
• Accelerometers pick up speed of movement and,
depending on placement, can focus on a specific limb
or determine the body’s general activity level.
• An emerging field in the area of wearable sensors is in
wearable chemosensors.
• These devices have the potential to measure many
more variables relating to the person’s well-being and
safety.
• Chemical sensors have an active surface, which
reacts or interacts with a sample at the
molecular level, for example, through the use of
immobilised receptors that selectively bind a
particular target species and, in so doing,
generate an observable signal.
• Wearable chemo-sensors can monitor the
composition of body fluids, such as sweat,
saliva, tears, and urine.
• There are also potential biomarkers from
gaseous samples in breath and perspiration.
Breathing
• Breathing is closely related to our physiological and
psychological state.
• Breathing patterns can be monitored by measuring changes
in thoracic volume as the ribcage expands and contracts with
each breath.
• This movement can be detected using wearable strain gauge
sensors or using textile electrodes for electrical impedance or
inductance plethysmography.
• Textile-based strain sensors have been demonstrated using
stretch fabrics modified with inherently conductive polymers
or carbon-loaded rubbers
• Knitting with conductive yarns is another approach to
creating textile piezoresistive sensors
• Stretch of the textile sensors leads to a change in
conductivity of the material.
• A respiratory-monitoring vest, developed by the
Adaptive Sensors Group in Dublin City University in
collaboration with Shimmer Research
• Electrical inductance plethysmography integrates two
conductive wires into a garment, one around the
ribcage and the other around the abdomen.
• Motions of thechest wall cause changes in the sel
inductance of the two loops.
• Impedance pneumography uses two or four textile
electrodes placed at the thorax.
• It involves injecting a high-frequency and low-
amplitude current through the electrodes and
measuring the transthoracic electrical
impedance changes.
 Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation
(TENS) therapy
• It is applied typically via conductive silica gel
hydro pads to the treatment region where front-
end of body nerves are stimulated by the
electrical current
Drawbacks
• Serve to reduce skin resistance,
• Do not readily target the back of the body.
• Their stickiness could cause discomfort.
• They cannot be laundered;
• Repeated use is unhygienic.
• Fabric electrodes are frequently used in smart
clothing requiring a good contact to skin, such
as acquiring breath, temperature and
electrocardiogram signal.
• TENS garment with incorporated Chinese
acupuncture therapy for long term continuous
treatment and establish a novel therapeutic
method for healthcare
Design of TENS Intelligent Knitwear
• The knitting yarn was made with 100% pearl fiber of
40S/2 Nm and the conductive yarn was made with silver-
coated yarn of 40S/2 Nm
• This knitwear was knitted on a flat knitting machine
comprising mainly of intarsia stitches,
Acupuncture Points for Pain Relief
• The acupuncture points of ‘Dazhu’, ‘Jianwaiyu’,
‘Jianjin’, ‘Dazhui’, ‘Jianyu’ and ‘Jugu’ are shown in
Figure .
• The function of acupuncturing at these points can reduce
shoulder and neck pain according to the theory of
traditional Chinese medicine.
• This group of acupuncture points was used in TENS
knitwear design for treatment of shoulder and neck
pain.
• The acupuncture points were located with reference to
the ‘Human Acupuncture Point Model’ and matched
with the clothing prototype.
• Medical intelligent clothing is made of elastic fabric
that requires tight contact with skin for effective
therapy.
• Silver conductive yarn was knitted into knitwear to
serve as electrodes and conducting wires.
• Green colored circles represent the terminals of the
electrodes, which were located at acupuncture points
for pain treatment.
Design of Washable Textile Electrode
• Four kinds of washable textile electrode were
designed in comparison with original
electrodes.
• A metal button was installed at the electrode of
this textile material, which could be buttoned
with knitwear
• Frontal and rear views of textile electrodes 1, 2, 3 and 4.
• Electrode 1: conductive meshes fabric with hand
sewing;
• Electrode 2: conductive fabric with adhesives;
• Electrode 3: conductive fabric with hand sewing; and
• Electrode 4: conductive fabric with hand sewing
The textile electrodes consisted of
• One piece of absorbent fabric (amethyst color),
• Conductive fabric (resistance: 0.1 ω/cm),
• Conductive mesh fabric (resistance: 0.2 ω/cm),
• Absorbent sponge and metallic dual-lock button
(diameter 10 mm)
Design of TENS Signal Generator
• Two metal buttons (labeled E) at the frontal
side of the clothes were connected to positive
and negative terminals of the TENS device,
respectively.
• TENS signals were generated by the electronic
device (labeled D), as shown in Figure.
• This battery-powered electronic device was
made to be compact in size and light in weight
so that it could be mounted to the clothes.
• The advent of new mobile communication technologies,
such as 5G, opens the door to a more systematic use of
wearable sensors in general, and sensorized garments in
particular, both for telemedicine and sports applications
• The 5G communication enhances the acquisition of data
from several sensors in parallel and the opportunity to
scale the previously introduced solution to great cohorts
of patients or healthy subjects without losses in the
performance.
• Given the increased bandwidth that can be obtained
with 5G, the fact that a garment usually includes several
sensors does not constitute a problem.
• A typical architecture of a 5G-enabled telemonitoring
system is the so-called two-hop architecture
Therapeutic textiles
• It provide new approaches and are gaining importance slowly
because of its many benefits and positive results.
• These fabrics play an important role in relieving stress,
rejuvenating, curing skin diseases and also help you sleep better.
• Herbal textiles are also of high healing value.
• These fabrics are free of chemicals and dyes and are made from
herbal extracts.
• What sets them apart from vegetable dyes is that they come with
medicinal values of the herbs.
• A coat of direct and actual herbal extracts on the fabric keeps the
remedial value intact.
• Herbal textiles have been helpful in curing diseases like
hypertension, asthma, diabetes and even cardiac ailments
• Therapeutic clothing to help heal inflamed joints
muscles, ligaments and tendons.