Roll-to-roll manufacturing method of wireless nanosensor

Inventors

Varadan, Vijay K. • Rai, Pratyush • Oh, Se Chang

Assignees

Nanowear Inc

Abstract

A roll-to-roll printing process for large scale manufacturing of nanosensor systems for sensing pathophysiological signals is disclosed. The roll-to-roll manufacturing process may include three processes to improve the throughput and to reduce the cost in manufacturing: fabrication of textile based nanosensors, printing conductive tracks, and integration of electronics. The wireless nanosensor systems can be used in different monitoring applications. The fabric sheet printed and integrated with the customized components can be used in a variety of different applications. The electronics in the nanosensor systems connect to remote severs through adhoc networks or cloud networks with standard communication protocols or non-standard customized protocols for remote health monitoring.

Core Innovation

The disclosure describes a roll-to-roll printing process for manufacturing a wireless nanosensor monitoring system on fabric by continuously unwinding a fabric from a fabric roll while printing an insulating base layer, printing a conductive track layer on top of the insulating base layer, and printing an insulating cover layer on top of the conductive track layer. Vertically aligned nanostructures are deposited on an adhesive printed onto the fabric at a location along the conductive track layer to provide a sensor connected to the conductive track layer, and the printed fabric is continuously wound into a printed fabric roll during all printing steps.

The deposition of vertically aligned nanostructures onto the adhesive supports sensor formation connected to the printed conductive track layer as part of the continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing flow. The disclosure further describes integration of sensor and electronics functionality on the textile, including printed organic-semiconductor electronics arranged in a thin film transistor configuration and conductive connection using magnetic break-out connectors with cold solder or silver epoxy.

The vertically aligned nanostructures are formed as polymer nanofibers embedded in a matrix polymer, where the matrix polymer is dissolved to expose embedded nanostructures and an electroless metallization creates conductive nanostructures on the nanofiber surface followed by drying and annealing. The document also describes a wireless/cloud signal transmission approach for remote health monitoring with location tagging and an emergency response workflow using a cloud server and a mobile device.

Claims Coverage

The partial content includes two independent claims. Both independent claims cover roll-to-roll manufacturing of a wireless nanosensor monitoring system using printed insulating and conductive layers combined with adhesive deposition of vertically aligned nanostructures and electrical connection to a conductive track, with one claim additionally reciting placement and connection of a plurality of sensors along the conductive track during the winding and unwinding process.

Across the independent claims, the inventive coverage centers on a continuous roll-to-roll textile process that prints insulating, conductive, and cover layers and uses adhesive-based deposition of vertically aligned nanostructures to form sensors electrically connected to a conductive track, including coordinated sensor placement and connection while the web is unwound and rewound.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications