Textile Pressure Sensor Made of Flexible Plastic Optical Fibers

In this paper we report the successful development of pressure sensitive textile prototypes based on flexible optical fibers technology. Our approach is based on thermoplastic silicone fibers, which can be integrated into woven textiles. As soon as pressure at a certain area of the textile is applied to these fibers they change their cross section reversibly, due to their elastomeric character, and a simultaneous change in transmitted light intensity can be detected. We have successfully manufactured two different woven samples with fibers of 0.51 and 0.98 mm diameter in warp and weft direction, forming a pressure sensitive matrix. Determining their physical behavior when a force is applied shows that pressure measurements are feasible. Their usable working range is between 0 and 30 N. Small drifts in the range of 0.2 to 4.6%, over 25 load cycles, could be measured. Finally, a sensor array of 2 × 2 optical fibers was tested for sensitivity, spatial resolution and light coupling between fibers at intersections.

[1]  Roberto Guerrieri,et al.  A textile based capacitive pressure sensor , 2002, Proceedings of IEEE Sensors.

[2]  D. Diamond,et al.  Wireless sensor networks and chemo-/biosensing. , 2008, Chemical reviews.

[3]  Danilo De Rossi,et al.  Electroactive polymer-based devices for e-textiles in biomedicine , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine.

[4]  Lucia Beccai,et al.  A miniaturized and flexible optoelectronic sensing system for tactile skin , 2007 .

[5]  Ieee Robotics,et al.  IEEE journal of robotics and automation , 1985 .

[6]  J. Zieba,et al.  Textronics : Electrical and Electronic Textiles : Sensors for Breathing Frequency Measurement , 2006 .

[7]  John L. Crassidis,et al.  Sensors and actuators , 2005, Conference on Electron Devices, 2005 Spanish.

[8]  Robert Puers,et al.  Towards the integration of textile sensors in a wireless monitoring suit , 2004 .

[9]  Steven R. Emge,et al.  Two-dimensional contour imaging with a fiber optic microbend tactile sensor array , 1991 .

[10]  T. Dias,et al.  Capacitive fiber-meshed transducers for touch and proximity-sensing applications , 2005, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[11]  Georges Hadziioannou,et al.  Polymer optical fiber with high thermal stability and low optical losses based on novel densely crosslinked polycarbosiloxanes , 1998 .

[12]  D. Jenstrom,et al.  A fiber optic microbend tactile sensor array , 1989 .

[13]  J. Heo,et al.  Tactile sensor arrays using fiber Bragg grating sensors , 2006 .

[14]  G. Tröster,et al.  Sensor for Measuring Strain in Textile , 2008, Sensors.

[15]  S. Lam Po Tang,et al.  Recent developments in flexible wearable electronics for monitoring applications , 2007 .

[16]  Sarun Sumriddetchkajorn,et al.  Scalable highly-sensitive optical touch keyboards , 2006 .

[17]  M. Wolf,et al.  Photonic textiles for pulse oximetry. , 2008, Optics express.

[18]  Paul Calvert,et al.  Soft-structured sensors and connectors by Inkjet Printing , 2007 .

[19]  R. Wijesiriwardana,et al.  Inductive fiber-meshed strain and displacement transducers for respiratory measuring systems and motion capturing systems , 2006, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[20]  Alan Mathewson,et al.  Computing Fibers: A Novel Fiber for Intelligent Fabrics? , 2003 .

[21]  Cédric Cochrane,et al.  Design and Development of a Flexible Strain Sensor for Textile Structures Based on a Conductive Polymer Composite , 2007, Sensors (Basel, Switzerland).

[22]  Zamora,et al.  Electronic textiles: a platform for pervasive computing , 2003, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[23]  Stefan Begej,et al.  Planar and finger-shaped optical tactile sensors for robotic applications , 1988, IEEE J. Robotics Autom..

[24]  A. MacDiarmid,et al.  Fiber Optic Sensors and Smart Fabrics , 2000 .

[25]  Kemal Fidanboylu,et al.  A Novel Fiber Optic System for Measuring the Dynamic Structural Behavior of Parachutes , 2000 .

[26]  D. De Rossi,et al.  Body segment position reconstruction and posture classification by smart textiles , 2007 .

[27]  Pamela Banks-Lee,et al.  Physical and Mechanical Properties of Chiengora Fibers , 2007 .

[28]  Gregory T. A. Kovacs,et al.  A multiparameter wearable physiologic monitoring system for space and terrestrial applications , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine.