Ausma Vilumsone

Improvements of Smart Garment Electronic Contact System

In order to improve comfort of smart garment, rigid electronic boards can be replaced with textile circuits, which use conductive yarns. When one tries to improve wearing comfort, often the most problematic items turn to be connection points of the electronic circuitry. The aim of this research is to determine behaviour of conductive yarns after they have been sewn into textile material, as well as to determine their suitability for the intended applications. In order to determine the quality of a conductive connective seams resistance has been measured (in Ω) under the influence of various variable factors: type of yarn, length of stitch, number of layers, type of seam. Besides that seam durability tests were carried, which show resistance changes over time and after washing.

Integration of Optical Fibres into Textile Products

There have been developed a children’s smart clothing prototype reacting to microclimate changes by signalling with the help of an optical fibre fabric output interface and a mother’s purse receiving the given data via wireless communication and displaying it on an LCD screen. During the research, the optical fibre fabric was tested in order to determine its reaction to external stimuli and define its layout within clothes. Child jacket’s logic was based on Arduino LilyPad. On the other hand, AVR microcontroller was used in pursue, which yielded a more economical and compact solution, although it was not as developer-friendly as LilyPad.

Flat inductors for human motion energy harvesting

The human motion energy harvesting is under investigation. The aim of this investigation: to develop electromagnetic human motion energy harvester that will consist only from flat elements and is integrable into the apparel. Main parts of the developed human motion energy harvester are flat, spiral-shaped inductors. Voltage pulses in such flat inductors can be induced during the motion of a permanent magnet along it. Due to the flat structure, inductors can be completely integrated into the parts of the clothes and it is not necessary to keep empty place for the movement of the magnet, as in usual electromagnetic harvesters. The prototype of the clothing, jacket with integrated electromagnetic human motion energy harvester with flat inductors is tested. The theoretical model for the induction of the electromotive force due to the magnet’s movement is created for the basic shapes (round, rhombic, square) of the inductive elements and the results (shape of voltage pulse and generated energy) of the calculations are in a good qualitative and quantitative coincidence with an experimental research.

Investigation of Textile Materials for Laser Light Beam Scanning

The scanning of human body as a method for gaining human measurements has several preferences. The gathering of data is possible in a very short time. In comparison to manual measuring methods, scanning acquires a larger amount of measurements. There are several modes of gaining human body measurements using the scanning system: laser scanning, light beam scanning, etc. A research on the laser beam reflection capabilities on different textile materials has been performed. The description of laser reflections has been compared to the Lambert’s law’s characteristics. The matrix of material selection is made in the process of planning the experiment and all possible materials are presented in this matrix. Eight textile materials are chosen for the experimental work: six lingerie and two additional materials. A laser beam with an angle of incidence of 0º and 45º is used to make the experiment. The dependence of the results on the wavelength of laser beams has also been compared.

Usage of noncontact human body measurements for development of Army Work Wear Trousers

The paper is based on issues related to imperfections of clothing fit, garment construction solutions and control measurement systems of finished products, which were identified in the research process analysing army soldier work wear trousers. The aim is to obtain target group body measurements using noncontact anthropometrical data acquisition method (3D scanning) for selection and analysis of scanned data suitable for trouser design. Tasks include comparison of scanned data with manually taken body measurements and different corresponding human body measurement standard data for establishing potential advantages of noncontact method usage in solving different trouser design issues.

Electromagnetic Shielding Properties of Metal Yarns Fabrics with Graphite Coating

Using three types of yarns with metal filaments, textile samples with various arrangements of yarns were made and additionally coated with polyurethane and graphite layer. The aim of the study is to identify the metal filaments fabrics with the highest shielding effectiveness (SE) and influence of graphite layer on it, using a waveguide method and network analyzer with radiated frequency from 2.6 – 3.6 GHz. Layer of graphite improves the SE properties, although, some uncoated samples have higher SE for definite frequencies.

Light-emitting textile display with floats for electronics covering

Purpose – Flexible light-emitting textile display is designed with floats for electronic elements covering and electronic contacts insulation what at the same time provides an opportunity to develop aesthetic design of the display in the single piece construction of material. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Display consists of interwoven electrically conductive yarns, non-conductive yarns and SMD LEDs connected to conductive yarns. Industrial jacquard weaving machine have been used, weave patterns were designed in PC-Edit software. Findings – Weave can be used as a tool to build and evolve electrotextile. Exploring weaving techniques and perceiving electronic circuit as a weave pattern, new approaches can be developed in electrotextile design field. Research limitations/implications – Connections of electronic elements and conductive textile materials still is actual problem what should be explored in further research. Practical implications – Flexible light emitting ...

Anthropometrical Measurements for Three-Dimensional Clothing Design

Anthropometrical data can be acquired with different tools. Traditional methods use different manual tools (measuring tape, anthropometer, a.o.). as the technologies develop, new tools are created and/or the existent ones are improved. The scanning systems for human body measure acquisition uses different data acquisition methods. A human body surface reproduction dot cloud is created from the coordinate readings, which can be used as a virtual mannequin or only the coordinates themselves can be used. A virtual reproduction of the human body can be used in garment production, car production, engineering and medicine. There is still not enough research and results as to use virtual mannequins for 3D garment designing. Mostly 3D scanning results are used to generate measures used in tailoring to use them in traditional or computer aided constructing methods. The surface of the human body is an object that cannot be laid out due to the vagueness of its surface and different variations. The human body consists of many different geometrical figures, it is a complicated shape and its laying out is a complicated process. The designing of clothes includes a row of processes and one of the most time and labour consuming is constructing. A construction displays the layout of the surface of the body (garment). At present the existent garment construction ways do not provide a possibility of creating a garment without fitting, besides the plane-like projection process of a spatial object demands high level skill, imagination and creativity from the constructor. An algorithm for the development of the geometric shape of a virtual mannequin has been worked out.