E-textiles have made computers wearable. These intelligent fabrics have electronics embedded in them and facilitate digital components. Electronic textiles make use of conductive fibers, and the electronic parts are integrated into the fabric. Hence, e-textiles are made up of minuscule conductive fibers, which exist naturally or are specially treated to be conductive. They are used to make clothing, in interior design, for medical care, and for safety purposes. E-textiles can function as sensors, data transfer systems, antennas, thermochromic displays, and heating elements.

This sector has been growing rapidly over the last decade. The last five years have seen many commercial products as an outcome of e-textiles entering the market. Continuous innovations and increasing demand for e-textiles have expanded the market. The compound annual growth rate of the American market for such smart textiles is said to be 37.9%, while the European market, in 2010, was worth over 300 million Euros and is estimated to grow by 20% each year.

The functioning of e-textiles depends on five main components, namely interconnected architecture, hardware, software, platform, and performance metrics. The platform is the main fabric that involves various structures and manufacturing processes. The interconnected architecture concerns the design and fusion of data paths and intermingled electronic circuits. Hardware includes microchips, sensors, and other mechanisms vital for e-textiles. All kinds of information processing and communication are managed by the software in e-textiles. Last but not least, performance metrics play a pivotal role in evaluating all the remaining four parameters, such as costs, manufacturing aspects, physical dimensions, and data flow rates. These five facets form the fundamental basis for the operation of e-textiles.

Since e-textiles act as a second skin, they are being used for unique purposes, especially in the health and medical care industries. These fabrics are designed to provide comfort and functionality simultaneously. This amalgamation of functional clothing and integrated electronics has given rise to the usage of e-textiles in the healthcare sector.

The smart sensor system helps in monitoring and communicating a patient's condition, as they detect, acquire, and transmit physiological signals.

E-textiles can be used in healthcare to study and scrutinize cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological disorders. Many companies have exploited the sensor option and have incorporated it into producing advanced sports and athletic wear.

E-textiles in health and medical care make use of two kinds of elements: conductive textile materials and electronic devices. Conductive textile materials are made up of two main kinds of fibers: electrically conductive and optically conductive fibers.

The electrically conductive fibers are infused with high metallic fibers developed from metals like nickel, aluminum, stainless steel, ferrous alloys, carbon, copper, and titanium. Such fabrics are made with fine and minute metallic filaments to make them comfortable to wear and skin-friendly. The diameter of these electrical fibers ranges from 1 to 80 microns. Producing a blend like this is expensive, and the resulting fabric tends to be a little heavy.


Optical conductive fibres make use of filaments made up of molten glass through bushing. These fibres are transparent, use perfluoro polymers, and convey signals in the form of pulse of light. The diameter of these fibres is close to 120 microns. The optical fibres provide sunlight resistance. Such conductive fibres are used to design clothes for defense personnels for motion capturing and tracing objects. The only drawback of these fibres is that they do not provide flexibility in terms of draping, since they are stiff in nature.


Electronic devices like sensors and processors, in the form of chips are used in e-textiles for the medical industry. The sensors are used to measure chest compressions, light and temperature, pressure & flexing, and even monitor heart beats. With the emergence of e-textiles in the field of medicine & health care, these sensors are being designed and modeled in such a way, so that they can send information regarding a certain patient, directly to doctors or supervisors, seated at a far distance through wireless assistance.


The following are some path-breaking innovations in e-textiles that can be of great use in the health care sector: a shirt that is connected to an individual's phone and records 30 physiological functions of the body and sending reports to a physician to analyze further; socks that direct diabetes patients to put their feet up for a while to avoid amputation of parts in future. This technology can help understand an individual's physiology better.


The next generation e-textiles will be able to espy not only what is going under, but also happening over the skin. More advancement in this area, will lead to predicting or anticipating a critical events, like a seizure or migraine, and introducing sophisticated concepts, like that of sensor tattoos. Moreover, these e-textiles will self-sustain by using energy from one's body to power its intelligent functions. This will be done by sourcing energy from body heat, breathing, and blood flow.


The growing health care needs and awareness is instrumental in bringing new possibilities and leading edge technologies in the healthcare sector. This is definitely going to change the clich�d definition of clothes, in the near future, and the ways in which our body can communicate better. Electronics and textiles, are nothing but technology at its best, and can work wonders for the healthcare sector.


References:


1.      Ipcbee.com

2.      Adsaleata.com

3.      Caroltorgan.com