In the ETEXWELD, Firefighter Suit is chosen as a first prototype that will be converted to interactive clothing using welding techniques. In order to transform the firefighters’ suit into the interactive structure, materials used for the development of e-textile structures have been realized and chosen carefully considering both electronic architecture and textile architecture of the e-textile structure separately. During selection of electronic materials; integrability to textile structure, weight, size, working range, accuracy, usability, flexibility, power consumption, generation and cost issues of the electronics were taken into consideration. The mechanical, physical and comfort properties of fabrics that can be suitable for firefighter suit manufacturing have been investigated. The compatibility of those fabrics with welding processing techniques have been also discussed during selection process so that the integration of electronic components together with conductive yarns can be achieved using those fabrics after being processed via welding technology.
To transform a garment into an interactive structure, the development of an electronic system for sensing of environmental and body parameters with wireless communication capabilities is required. The design of electrical circuits and electrical interface structures and their performance tests have been performed. Specifically, the development of internal and external modules for communication of firefighter’s team, the measurements of the physiological (ECG, Body temperature) and environmental (external temperature, position) signals of each firefighter, and the wireless transmission of the data to a central collection point where the team is coordinated by a central unit during an action have been realized. In order to connect electronic components of the firefighter suit, textile-based transmission lines were manufactured using welding tapes via hot air welding technology.
The design and manufacturing of fabric-based electronic components such as textile based antennas for communication levels of firefighter suit, fabric capacitor, thermoelectric fabric, textile-based temperature sensor, textile-based LED arrays and ECG e-textile device have been realized. The hot air welding parameters have been optimized for construction of e-textile transmission lines in terms of signal transfer and conductivity. Also, fabric structures were subjected to textile general functional property tests such as thickness, strength, water resistance, moisture management, water vapour permeability, thermal conductivity, tactile comfort properties, bending, flame tests etc.
The first trials for integration of PCB structures are achieved together with their washing tests. Though, the test results revealed that an improvement stage is necessary for having comfortable, robust and reliable interfaces on the firefighter suit.
