Smart materials, dry textile sensors, and electronics integration in clothing, bed sheets, and pillow cases for neurological, cardiac and/or pulmonary monitoring

Inventors

Varadan, Vijay K.

Assignees

Nanowear Inc

Abstract

Sensors mounted on a textile include at least one of electrically conductive textile electrodes; single or multiple optically coupled infrared and red emitter and photodiode or photo transistor; and thin film or Resistive Temperature Detector (RTD). Textile electrodes, electrical connections, and electrical functionalization use at least one of nanoparticles, nanostructures, and mesostructures. Conductive thread, for electrical connections, may include a fiber core made from conductive materials such as but not limited to metals, alloys, and graphine structures, and a sheath of insulating materials such as but not limited to nylon, polyester, and cotton.

Core Innovation

The invention provides a wearable remote electrophysiological monitoring system that includes a garment having at least one dry contact sensor. The dry contact sensor includes at least one nanostructured, textile-integrated electrode attached to the garment, and the nanostructured, textile-integrated electrode includes a piece of fabric that includes electrically conductive fibers and nanostructures that make contact with the wearer's skin.

The fabric includes between 10,000 and 100,000 nanostructures per square centimeter of fabric. The nanostructures include vertically standing nanowires that project from the fibers to varying lengths of between 0.01 and 10 micrometers, and are arranged so that they are vertically standing when viewed relative to the fabric in a horizontal plane.

The system further includes a control module in electrical communication with the at least one nanostructured, textile-integrated electrode and a remote computing system in communication with the control module. The textile-integrated electrode structure includes textile fibers blended or coated with metal, selected from nylon, silk, polyester, modified celluloses, polymers, cotton, lycra, and spandex, with conductive fibers supporting the vertically standing nanowires.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim is directed to a wearable remote electrophysiological monitoring system with a garment-based dry contact sensor that uses a nanostructured, textile-integrated electrode, plus a control module and a remote computing system. The claim includes multiple quantitative and structural constraints, including nanostructure density and nanowire projection length, and specifies conductive textile fibers from a defined set.

Across the independent claim, the core coverage centers on a wearable garment-based dry contact sensor that uses a nanostructured, textile-integrated electrode with vertically standing nanowires arranged for skin contact, using defined conductive textile fibers, and integrated with a control module and a remote computing system.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications

No documented applications found