Polymeric Optical Fiber Fabrics for Illumination and Sensorial Applications in Textiles

An ever increasing number of publications, reviews, and books are written about polymer optical fibers (POFs). Articles of POFs for a wide range of applications especially for networks in buildings, automobiles, railways, aviation, or in industrial plants are numerous, while publications where POFs are used in textiles are rather rare. In this review, we want to present the different techniques to produce textile-based POFs and the possibilities and applications offered by these textiles. They have been produced for a wide range of implementations in illumination and sensing. Special attention will be given to the features of differences in textile structures resulting in flexible and lightweight structures. Recent applications in the field of optical textiles given in this report demonstrate practicability and usefulness for flexible 2D illumination areas. This article provides an overview of the current polymeric optical fiber fabrics and textile constructions for optical textiles and the main applications where these innovative textiles are of great benefit.

[1]  Yong K. Kim,et al.  Concepts for Energy-Interactive Textiles , 2003 .

[2]  Mark G. Kuzyk.  Polymer Fiber Optics: Materials, Physics, and Applications , 2006 .

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

[4]  Bai Yang,et al.  High refractive index organic–inorganic nanocomposites: design, synthesis and application , 2009 .

[5]  P. Chaud,et al.  OFSETH: Optical Fibre Embedded into technical Textile for Healthcare, an efficient way to monitor patient under magnetic resonance imaging , 2007, 2007 29th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

[6]  Dietrich Marcuse,et al.  Curvature loss formula for optical fibers , 1976 .

[7]  George K Stylios,et al.  An overview of smart technologies for clothing design and engineering , 2006 .

[8]  Martin Camenzind,et al.  Flexible textile light diffuser for photodynamic therapy , 2005, SPIE BiOS.

[9]  Katerina Krebber,et al.  Optical fibre sensors embedded into medical textiles for monitoring of respiratory movements in MRI environment , 2007, European Workshop on Optical Fibre Sensors.

[10]  A. Ajji,et al.  Color-changing and color-tunable photonic bandgap fiber textiles. , 2008, Optics express.

[11]  X. Tao.  Wearable Electronics and Photonics , 2005 .

[12]  Axel Ritter,et al.  Smart Materials in Architecture, Interior Architecture and Design , 2006 .

[13]  Tania Khan,et al.  Performance of a contact textile-based light diffuser for photodynamic therapy. , 2006, Photodiagnosis and photodynamic therapy.

[14]  Yasuhiro Koike,et al.  What Is the Most Transparent Polymer? , 2000 .

[15]  Mailis Mäkinen,et al.  DEVELOPMENT OF POLYMERIC OPTICAL FIBRE FABRICS AS ILLUMINATION ELEMENTS AND TEXTILE DISPLAYS , 2003 .

[16]  J D Wilson,et al.  Design of a light stimulator for fetal and neonatal magnetoencephalography , 2009, Physiological measurement.

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

[18]  D. Gloge,et al.  Bending loss in multimode fibers with graded and ungraded core index. , 1972, Applied optics.

[19]  K. Krebber,et al.  Polymer Optical Fiber Sensors for Distributed Strain Measurement and Application in Structural Health Monitoring , 2009, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[20]  Shuichi Kinoshita,et al.  Structural colors in nature: the role of regularity and irregularity in the structure. , 2005, Chemphyschem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry.

[21]  W. Star,et al.  Light distribution by linear diffusing sources for photodynamic therapy. , 1996, Physics in medicine and biology.

[22]  Shinji Yamaguchi,et al.  Optical Properties of Woven Fabrics by Plastic Optical Fiber , 2006 .

[23]  J. Arrue,et al.  Light power behaviour when bending plastic optical fibres , 1998 .

[24]  Paras N. Prasad,et al.  Polymers for Photonics , 1994 .

[25]  Patricia Scully,et al.  Plastic optical fibre sensors and devices , 2000 .

[26]  Lucy E. Dunne,et al.  Design and Evaluation of a Wearable Optical Sensor for Monitoring Seated Spinal Posture , 2006, 2006 10th IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers.

[27]  Frank Clemens,et al.  Textile Pressure Sensor Made of Flexible Plastic Optical Fibers , 2008, Sensors.

[28]  F. Pirotte,et al.  Optical Fiber Sensors Embedded Into Medical Textiles for Healthcare Monitoring , 2008, IEEE Sensors Journal.

[29]  Vladan Koncar,et al.  Optical Fiber Fabric Displays , 2005 .

[30]  Anna Boczkowska,et al.  Intelligent Materials for Intelligent Textiles , 2006 .

[31]  Olaf Ziemann,et al.  POF - Polymer Optical Fibers for Data Communication , 2002 .

[32]  Tania Khan,et al.  Novel flexible light diffuser and irradiation properties for photodynamic therapy. , 2007, Journal of biomedical optics.

[33]  D. Rossi.  Electronic textiles: a logical step. , 2007 .

[34]  Karen Miller Anderson.  Machine embroidery : tools, techniques, and technologies , 2005 .

[35]  Joseba Zubia,et al.  Plastic Optical Fibers: An Introduction to Their Technological Processes and Applications , 2001 .

[36]  T. Ghosh,et al.  FIBER-BASED ELECTRICAL AND OPTICAL DEVICES AND SYSTEMS , 2004 .

[37]  Margaret Orth.  Defining Flexibility and Sewability in Conductive Yarns , 2002 .

[38]  Shuichi Kinoshita,et al.  Cover Picture: Structural Colors in Nature: The Role of Regularity and Irregularity in the Structure (ChemPhysChem 8/2005) , 2005 .

[39]  Katerina Krebber,et al.  Medizinische Textilien mit integrierten polymeroptischen Fasern zur AtmungssensorikMedicinal Textiles with Integrated Polymer-Optical Fibers for Respiration Monitoring , 2008 .

[40]  O. Shapira,et al.  Towards multimaterial multifunctional fibres that see, hear, sense and communicate. , 2007, Nature materials.

[41]  Sundaresan Jayaraman,et al.  The Wearable Motherboard™: The first generation of adaptive and responsive textile structures (ARTS) for medical applications , 1999, Virtual Reality.

[42]  J. Zięba,et al.  Textronics System for Breathing Measurement , 2007 .

[43]  J C Mizeret,et al.  Cylindrical fiberoptic light diffuser for medical applications , 1996, Lasers in surgery and medicine.

[44]  Katerina Krebber,et al.  Smart technical textiles with integrated POF sensors , 2008, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

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