Week 5: E-Textiles and Wearables I

By using conductive and semi conductive material we were able to construct simple circuit. The sensor consisted of a nonconductive material (blue) sandwiched between 2 pieces of conductive materials (gold: Shieldex Kiel +30)and a little piece of semi conductive material in the middle (grey: Shieldex Medtex P 70)

Shieldex Kiel +30: A Copper plated non-woven conductive material with a resistance of 0.02 Ohms.

Shieldex Medtex P 70: A Silver plated knitted fabric with a 99% pure silver plating.

Ensure that the non-conductive material is bigger than the conductive pieces, so it prevents any contact of the conductive fibers. We used “Bügelfix” which is fabric which has a glue component which sticks once it is ironed. This was ean easy way for the sensor to stick together without using glue or sewing it

To make the circuit you will need:

• DIY sensor
• alligator clips
• 3V cell-coin battery
• LED

Connect the positive leg of the LED to the positive side of the battery, choose one “flap” of the sensor (outer conductive material) as the positive side. Connect the negative leg of the LED and negative side of the battery with the other “flap”.

The LED should light up when pressed.

The wearable I made is based on the same sensor that we made in the tutorial (LEDs lighting up when pressed) using a cell battery and conductive thread in place of the alligator clips.