lighting fashion

Theme | Wearable Computing 

Are you ready for e-textiles?

E-textiles are fabrics that enable digital components (including small computers), and electronics to be embedded in them. Part of the development of wearable technology, they are referred to as intelligent clothing or smart clothing that allow for the incorporation of built‐in technological elements in everyday textiles and clothes.

Wearable Computing – Smart clothing consists of a carrier material that is connected to conductive yarns with LED light-emitting diodes. This way you can sew safety clothing for cyclists, but also make a handbag with interior lighting or tailor a bright evening dress.

With the miniaturization of the light-emitting diode (LED), at the same time the control of the colour of the emitting light is possible. Further advantages are the high light intensity – the luminaires are energetically highly efficient and the colours of the light are miscible with each other. The building materials are easily available and the prices are low.

The light sources are supplied with current via conductive metal yarns, which are woven into the textiles. However, conductive materials printed or laminated on textiles are also conceivable for the power supply. Depending on the textile supply line, the LEDs can be positioned virtually freely and contact points can be produced. The current itself comes from a battery.

Leading in research is René Bohne, graduate in computer science and doctorate at RWTH Aachen University.

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caption – picture in the slider:

available: LED-Licht Salsa Dance Performance dress, “phantasie girl” by Tianchuang compagny/China und Alibaba/USA