Electrical connection issues on wearable electronics

Abstract

The drive for integration of electronic components into textile substrates has been a major aspect of research into production of smart textiles. Electronic components as such, are rigid, inflexible, do not easily follow body movements and can cause hypersensitivity of the skin upon prolonged contact due either to the presence of irritants or the rigid nature of the materials. Another important disadvantage of electronic components, in wearable applications, is that while textiles and textile like materials can withstand the usual cleaning / care treatments, those same treatments can have detrimental effects on the transmission lines and on any exposed electronic parts. This paper investigates a method for the protection of transmission lines made of conductive yarn seams on specimens containing both electronic and textile elements integrated on a textile substrate as well as the protection of the electronic parts. The reliability and durability of the transmission line on the combined specimen is determined by the measurements of the value of an electrical resistance located on a rigid PCB, after repeated wash cycles.