Enabling platform technology for smart fabric design and printing
Enabling platform technology for smart fabric design and printing
A hardware and software platform is presented enabling the design, and realisation via printing, of smart fabrics. The cultural and creative industries are an important economic area within which designers frequently utilise fabrics. Smart fabrics offer further creative opportunities to the cultural and creative industries, but designers often lack the required specialist knowledge, in electronics, software and materials, to produce smart fabrics. The software platform offers the ability to perform design, layout and visualisation of a smart fabric using a library of standard smart fabric functions (e.g. electroluminescence) so specialist expertise is not needed. Operation of the smart fabric can be simulated, and parameters can be set for smart fabric control electronics, which consists of standard circuit board modules. The software also provides driver code for the hardware platform to print the smart fabric. The hardware platform consists of a bespoke dispenser printer; functional inks are deposited via a pneumatic syringe controlled by the driver software, allowing bespoke rapid prototyped smart fabrics to be printed. Operation of the software and hardware system is demonstrated by the realisation of an interactive smart fabric consisting of electroluminescent lamps controlled by a proximity sensor. The modular electronics are used to control the smart fabric operation using embedded code generated by the software platform. For example, the blink rate of the electroluminescent lamp can be adjusted by the proximity of a hand. This control is achieved by the use of intuitive drop-down menus and input/output selections by the creative user. At present, the platform allows the design, print and implementation of smart fabrics incorporating the functions of colour change, electroluminescence, sound emission and proximity sensing. The platform can be expanded to add additional functions in the future and the printer will be compatible with new inks developed for screen and inkjet printing.
design software, direct write, dispenser printing, printing, Smart fabrics
Torah, Russel
7147b47b-db01-4124-95dc-90d6a9842688
Wei, Yang
8f7387a5-6d75-4032-a645-473a7f18dce5
Grabham, Neil
00695728-6280-4d06-a943-29142f2547c9
Li, Yi
5c22f4d6-a339-4b3d-a43e-7c55eaf304a7
de Vos, Marc
7beb916f-5740-478e-9221-a44fbd066967
Todorov, Todor
1f659b07-2d57-4645-971f-4d6db46f6243
Popov, Boris
98793c94-ccdd-4f6a-8e70-853cbfc7b3fb
Marinov, Vlad
4ccf44f0-0a8e-4b71-ba3f-85ad08d3a599
Stoyanov, Svetlozar
648af735-bb92-477c-a06e-c598bb987159
Todorov, Vlad
1d8ab441-4f7b-41d8-88db-8fb31ff0da81
Tudor, John
46eea408-2246-4aa0-8b44-86169ed601ff
Torah, Russel
7147b47b-db01-4124-95dc-90d6a9842688
Wei, Yang
8f7387a5-6d75-4032-a645-473a7f18dce5
Grabham, Neil
00695728-6280-4d06-a943-29142f2547c9
Li, Yi
5c22f4d6-a339-4b3d-a43e-7c55eaf304a7
de Vos, Marc
7beb916f-5740-478e-9221-a44fbd066967
Todorov, Todor
1f659b07-2d57-4645-971f-4d6db46f6243
Popov, Boris
98793c94-ccdd-4f6a-8e70-853cbfc7b3fb
Marinov, Vlad
4ccf44f0-0a8e-4b71-ba3f-85ad08d3a599
Stoyanov, Svetlozar
648af735-bb92-477c-a06e-c598bb987159
Todorov, Vlad
1d8ab441-4f7b-41d8-88db-8fb31ff0da81
Tudor, John
46eea408-2246-4aa0-8b44-86169ed601ff
Torah, Russel, Wei, Yang, Grabham, Neil, Li, Yi, de Vos, Marc, Todorov, Todor, Popov, Boris, Marinov, Vlad, Stoyanov, Svetlozar, Todorov, Vlad and Tudor, John
(2019)
Enabling platform technology for smart fabric design and printing.
Journal of Engineered Fibers and Fabrics, 14.
(doi:10.1177/1558925019845903).
Abstract
A hardware and software platform is presented enabling the design, and realisation via printing, of smart fabrics. The cultural and creative industries are an important economic area within which designers frequently utilise fabrics. Smart fabrics offer further creative opportunities to the cultural and creative industries, but designers often lack the required specialist knowledge, in electronics, software and materials, to produce smart fabrics. The software platform offers the ability to perform design, layout and visualisation of a smart fabric using a library of standard smart fabric functions (e.g. electroluminescence) so specialist expertise is not needed. Operation of the smart fabric can be simulated, and parameters can be set for smart fabric control electronics, which consists of standard circuit board modules. The software also provides driver code for the hardware platform to print the smart fabric. The hardware platform consists of a bespoke dispenser printer; functional inks are deposited via a pneumatic syringe controlled by the driver software, allowing bespoke rapid prototyped smart fabrics to be printed. Operation of the software and hardware system is demonstrated by the realisation of an interactive smart fabric consisting of electroluminescent lamps controlled by a proximity sensor. The modular electronics are used to control the smart fabric operation using embedded code generated by the software platform. For example, the blink rate of the electroluminescent lamp can be adjusted by the proximity of a hand. This control is achieved by the use of intuitive drop-down menus and input/output selections by the creative user. At present, the platform allows the design, print and implementation of smart fabrics incorporating the functions of colour change, electroluminescence, sound emission and proximity sensing. The platform can be expanded to add additional functions in the future and the printer will be compatible with new inks developed for screen and inkjet printing.
Text
1558925019845903
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 1 April 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 May 2019
Keywords:
design software, direct write, dispenser printing, printing, Smart fabrics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 430839
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/430839
PURE UUID: 32679d29-133a-448f-bc51-11b9b68d2348
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 16 May 2019 16:30
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:42
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Russel Torah
Author:
Yang Wei
Author:
Neil Grabham
Author:
Yi Li
Author:
Marc de Vos
Author:
Todor Todorov
Author:
Boris Popov
Author:
Vlad Marinov
Author:
Svetlozar Stoyanov
Author:
Vlad Todorov
Author:
John Tudor
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics