E-textile pressure sensor based on conductive fiber and its structure

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel e-textile-based pressure sensor. Textile is a common material in our life, used in such items as sheets, seats, and clothing. If these items are equipped with sensor functions, they can invisibly assist humans without significant lifestyle changes. Our sensor is suitable for mass production and durable in daily hard use cases. The sensor is woven with common weaving machines with a special manner and its material is a common low-cost conductive fiber that does not use special and costly materials, such as optical fiber. The sensor mechanism is supported by the textile structure; thus our sensor has durability for frictional force and scratch occurring sometime in daily context. In this paper, we also introduce two example usages of our textile sensor: a bed-size body pressure sensor for anti-pressure-ulcer treatment and a wearable foot-pressure sensor for walk and skill analyses.