An interactive smart textile and a preparation method and application thereof

Abstract

The present application relates to an interactive intelligent textile and its preparation method and application, the textile includes a perception energy supply layer, a protective interaction layer and a textile structure metamaterial antenna layer between the perception energy supply layer and the protective interaction layer; wherein the perception energy supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer are connected with a flexible intelligent processing module respectively, and together constitute an intelligent textile system. The present application realizes the fusion of function, structure and calculation by adopting three-dimensional integrated textile structure, significantly improves the communication performance, perception dimension, interactive intelligence and wearing comfort of the system, and has broad application prospects in the fields of human-computer interaction, human motion health monitoring, remote tactile communication, intelligent wear, intelligent medical treatment, fire rescue, intelligent furniture control and the like.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of smart textiles, and specifically relates to an interactive smart textile, its preparation method, and its application. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, human-computer interaction is evolving from traditional command-based and interface-based interactions to a multimodal intelligent interaction paradigm. Smart textiles, as an important physical carrier for human-computer interaction, are considered an ideal platform for building next-generation seamless, embodied intelligent interactive interfaces due to their inherent advantages such as direct contact with human skin, large-area coverage, and flexible and adaptable forms. Under this trend, the development of interactive smart clothing integrating high-performance sensing, communication, and computing has become a cutting-edge direction of common concern in academia and industry.

[0003] Currently, there are two main ways to realize the interactive functions of smart clothing: one is "attachment," where separate electronic modules such as flexible sensors, traditional microstrip antennas, microprocessors, and batteries are attached to the surface or layers of the garment through sewing, heat pressing, or other methods. While this approach is easy to implement, the rigid modules attached to the garment are severely mismatched in mechanical properties with the flexible textile substrate. Repeated wearing, bending, and washing can easily lead to stress concentration, resulting in connection failure, functional degradation, or even damage. Secondly, the radiation performance of the attached external antenna is highly susceptible to changes in body posture, limb movement, and fabric deformation, leading to resonant frequency shifts, impedance mismatches, and gain reductions. Existing research shows that conventional fabric antennas can experience a 5%-10% resonant frequency shift and a radiation efficiency decrease of over 20% under dynamic human body conditions, making them unsuitable for applications with stringent communication reliability requirements (such as remote surgery and emergency command). The other approach is "woven," where conductive yarns are directly woven into the fabric to form a basic sensing or antenna structure. While this approach improves integration and flexibility, its performance is limited by traditional materials and structures. For example, dipole or microstrip antennas woven from ordinary metal fibers (such as stainless steel fibers) or conductive polymer yarns have low conductivity, high loss, typically operate in a narrow frequency band (<500 MHz), have limited gain, and are also difficult to overcome the performance degradation caused by dynamic deformation.

[0004] Meanwhile, existing smart clothing integrates only one or a few sensors, lacking the ability to collect high-resolution, integrated information on multiple modalities such as touch, posture, and force feedback. Furthermore, these sensors are typically in patch form, resulting in poor adhesion to the garment substrate and consequently, poor comfort and low long-term reliability. This limits human-computer interaction to simple data monitoring.

[0005] In summary, existing smart clothing faces challenges in core areas such as high-performance and stable wireless communication, multimodal deep fusion perception, low-latency and highly intelligent edge interaction, and comfortable and reliable system integration. It struggles to meet the demands of next-generation natural, efficient, and reliable human-computer interaction. Therefore, there is an urgent need for smart clothing that can simultaneously improve communication performance, achieve multi-dimensional interactive intelligence, and provide a superior wearable experience, driving the development of smart interactive clothing towards higher performance, greater intelligence, and greater practicality. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an interactive smart textile and its preparation method and application, overcoming the defects of existing interactive textiles such as poor conformality, insufficient reliability of communication antennas, only able to achieve single or small number of signal transmissions, and mismatch between functional units and the mechanical properties of textile substrates.

[0007] This invention provides a smart textile, which includes a sensing and power supply layer, a protective interaction layer, and a textile structure metamaterial antenna layer located between the sensing and power supply layer and the protective interaction layer; wherein the sensing and power supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer are respectively connected to a flexible smart processing module, together constituting a smart textile system;

[0008] The textile-structured metamaterial antenna layer comprises, in sequence, a flexible conductive grid grounding layer, a textile dielectric substrate layer, and a metamaterial radiating layer, wherein the textile dielectric substrate layer is disposed between the metamaterial radiating layer and the flexible conductive grid grounding layer; wherein the metamaterial radiating layer comprises multiple electromagnetic resonant units and a feeding structure, wherein the multiple electromagnetic resonant units are periodically arrayed.

[0009] When the fabric is stretched, compressed, or bent, the metamaterial radiating layer causes a continuous adjustment of the equivalent inductance, capacitance, and impedance characteristics through changes in the geometric parameters of the electromagnetic resonant unit, thereby altering the electromagnetic response characteristics of the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer.

[0010] Preferably, the yarn in the sensing and energy supply layer includes functional yarn and structural yarn, wherein the functional yarn includes at least one of multimodal sensing functional yarn and energy harvesting functional yarn; wherein the multimodal sensing functional yarn includes one or more of temperature-sensitive yarn, humidity-sensitive yarn, sweat detection yarn, and tensile strain sensing yarn; and the energy harvesting functional yarn includes one or more of triboelectric fibers, piezoelectric fibers, and flexible photovoltaic fibers.

[0011] The temperature-sensitive yarn includes, but is not limited to, at least one of PEDOT:PSS conductive fiber, carbon nanotube composite fiber, MXene composite fiber, and thermosensitive conductive polymer fiber; the humidity-sensitive yarn includes, but is not limited to, at least one of MXene humidity-sensitive fiber, graphene composite fiber, and polyamide humidity-sensitive fiber; the sweat detection yarn includes, but is not limited to, at least one of microfluidic sweat detection fiber, ion-conductive fiber, and electrochemical sensing fiber; and the tensile strain sensing yarn includes, but is not limited to, at least one of liquid metal fiber, graphene elastic fiber, and conductive polymer elastic fiber.

[0012] Preferably, the functional yarns of the sensing functional layer are respectively gathered at the edge of the fabric through conductive yarns to form a signal output end, which is connected to the signal acquisition end of the flexible intelligent processing module.

[0013] Since human movement, sweat, and fabric strain can alter the electromagnetic environment near flexible antennas, multimodal sensing yarns can acquire information such as human body temperature, humidity, sweat, and tensile strain in real time. The flexible intelligent processing module adjusts the communication parameters of the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer in real time based on the acquired information, dynamically compensating for the antenna communication parameters. This ensures that the antenna layer maintains stable impedance matching and radiation performance under different environmental changes, improving the reliability of the antenna layer under complex wear conditions.

[0014] Furthermore, the sensing and power supply layer is woven from functional and structural yarns, ensuring the flexibility, breathability, and bendability of the textile, while reducing the increase in local stiffness and discomfort caused by the concentration of traditional flexible electronic devices.

[0015] Preferably, the textile dielectric substrate layer is a three-dimensional spaced fabric structure, including a first fabric layer, connecting yarns and a second fabric layer, wherein a flexible conductive grid grounding layer is provided on the first fabric layer and a metamaterial radiation layer is provided on the second fabric layer;

[0016] The textile dielectric substrate layer is a three-dimensional spaced fabric structure used to support the radiating layer and ensure a stable spacing between the radiating layer and the flexible conductive grid grounding layer, thereby improving the structural stability of the fabric under tension, bending and compression.

[0017] The connecting yarn is one or more of the following types: upright, V-shaped, X-shaped, double V-shaped, honeycomb, and truss. The connecting yarn not only ensures a stable spacing (0.5-5mm) between the radiating layer and the grounding layer, but also maintains stable electromagnetic boundary conditions during fabric stretching, bending, and compression, reducing impedance drift caused by changes in interlayer spacing and improving the stability of the antenna structure.

[0018] At least one of the connecting yarn density and spacing height exhibits a gradient change, which improves the conformal capability of the fabric and the stability of antenna deformation.

[0019] The first fabric layer is located on the side closer to the sensing function layer, and the second fabric layer is located on the side farther away from the sensing function layer.

[0020] The first and second fabric layers in the textile dielectric substrate layer are both made of one or more of low-dielectric textile fibers and low-dielectric electrospun nanofibers; the low-dielectric textile fibers include at least one of liquid crystal polymer fiber / ultrafine glass fiber blended yarn and aramid / polyimide blended yarn; the connecting yarn in the textile dielectric substrate layer is selected from one or more of polyester fiber, polyamide fiber, aramid fiber, polyimide fiber, liquid crystal polymer fiber, and polyetheretherketone fiber.

[0021] The dielectric constant of low-dielectric textile fibers and low-dielectric electrospun nanofibers is less than or equal to 4.

[0022] The electromagnetic resonant unit is an open resonant ring unit, wherein the periodic array arrangement is such that one or more of the rotation angle, opening width, ring width, resonant size, and yarn arrangement density of the open resonant ring unit exhibit gradient changes, so as to improve beam control capability and electromagnetic stability under fabric deformation.

[0023] The electromagnetic resonant unit introduces tiny protrusions or depressions at different locations (one or more of the following: the open region, the edge region of the ring, and the region where the corner current is concentrated) to excite multiple resonant modes at adjacent frequency points.

[0024] The power supply structure uses conductive wires and is formed through embroidery, weaving, or conductive patterning processes. The power supply structure is connected to the electromagnetic resonant unit and the flexible intelligent processing module.

[0025] The rotation angle exhibits a gradient variation: the rotation angle of the open resonant ring unit increases linearly from 0° to 270°, and the opening width exhibits a gradient variation: the gap between the openings increases linearly from 0.3 mm to 0.8 mm; the ring width exhibits a gradient variation, with the ring width varying from 0.2 to 1.5 mm.

[0026] The open-loop resonant ring can maintain a small size while forming obvious LC resonance characteristics. Its resonant frequency is mainly determined by the ring inductance and the open-loop capacitance. Therefore, it is suitable for the construction of conductive yarns in textiles, and the resonant frequency can be continuously adjusted by the geometric changes caused by the stretching and bending of the fabric.

[0027] The gradient variation setting allows different resonant ring units to have different resonant frequencies, impedance characteristics, and phase responses. When the fabric deforms, each unit will experience different degrees of frequency drift, maintaining a continuous electromagnetic response in different frequency bands, thereby expanding the effective operating bandwidth and improving the stability of the antenna operation.

[0028] The flexible conductive grid grounding layer is formed by a continuous conductive network of flexible conductive yarns; the metamaterial radiation layer is formed by multiple electromagnetic resonant units and a feeding structure of conductive yarns.

[0029] The electromagnetic resonant unit is formed by conductive yarns and woven into a textile structure metamaterial according to a preset array period.

[0030] The feeding structure of the metamaterial radiating layer uses conductive lines, formed through embroidery, weaving, or conductive patterning processes, and is connected to the periodic electromagnetic resonant unit and the flexible intelligent processing module.

[0031] The conductive yarns in the flexible conductive grid grounding layer and metamaterial radiation layer include, but are not limited to, at least one of carbon fiber, PEDOT:PSS fiber, silver-plated copper core nylon yarn, and silver-plated yarn.

[0032] The protective interaction layer is composed of a transparent low-dielectric elastic polymer and forms an electromagnetic near-field tactile sensing interaction structure based on a metamaterial radiation layer, used to identify touch, swipe, proximity and gesture information; or further integrates one or more of capacitive tactile sensing, optical tactile interaction and inductive tactile interaction.

[0033] Furthermore, the protective interaction layer not only protects the metamaterial radiating layer but also serves as a human-computer interaction interface, enabling touch, swipe, proximity, and gesture recognition functions through changes in the electromagnetic near-field of the metamaterial radiating layer. When a human finger approaches or touches the protective interaction layer, the high dielectric constant of human tissue alters the electric field distribution near the open resonant ring, causing changes in the equivalent capacitance, inductance, and impedance parameters of the resonant unit. This, in turn, leads to changes in the resonant frequency, reflection coefficient, or near-field intensity of the metamaterial radiating layer. The flexible intelligent processing module collects the radio frequency response changes of the metamaterial radiating layer and, combined with the spatial mapping relationship of resonant units at different locations, identifies the touch position, proximity distance, and swipe trajectory.

[0034] The transparent low-dielectric elastic polymer mentioned above includes one or more of TPU, PDMS, and fluorosilicone elastomers, and the dielectric constant is preferably controlled between 2.0 and 3.0 to reduce the influence of the protective interlayer on the electromagnetic performance of the metamaterial antenna layer.

[0035] Furthermore, the protective interactive layer covers the outer layer of the metamaterial radiating layer. It is a transparent, low dielectric constant, and flexible protective layer, and integrates tactile interaction functions to realize touch, swipe, proximity, or gesture interaction, while protecting the metamaterial antenna layer.

[0036] The interactive function of the protective interactive layer preferably adopts a tactile interaction method based on the electromagnetic near-field perception formed by the metamaterial radiating layer and the human body. When a human finger approaches or touches the protective interactive layer, the human tissue, as a high dielectric, enters the near-field region of the metamaterial resonant unit, causing changes in the local electric field distribution, equivalent dielectric constant, and resonant characteristics. The information is transmitted to the flexible intelligent processing module to recognize interactive information such as touch, swipe, proximity, and gesture.

[0037] The tactile interaction layer is directly implemented in the near-field region of the metamaterial antenna layer, avoiding the shielding and impedance mismatch caused by traditional transparent electrodes on the radiation performance of the metamaterial antenna, thus achieving stable synergy between tactile perception and antenna performance. Simultaneously, the low-dielectric flexible protective layer can isolate sweat and moisture and reduce external abrasion, improving the long-term stability of the antenna layer.

[0038] The multifunctional sensing and power supply layer and the metamaterial antenna layer are connected by a three-dimensional weaving or stitching process.

[0039] The flexible intelligent processing module includes one or more of the following: a microcontroller, a signal conditioning circuit, an analog-to-digital converter, a storage unit, a wireless communication unit, and a power management unit.

[0040] The flexible intelligent processing module is connected to the sensing and power supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer via flexible conductive lines. It is used to complete multi-mode signal acquisition, filtering, feature extraction, edge computing, wireless communication and interactive control. Based on the sensing information obtained by the sensing and power supply layer, it dynamically adjusts the communication parameters of the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer.

[0041] This invention provides a method for preparing smart textiles, comprising:

[0042] (1) Simultaneously weave and construct a sensing power supply layer, a textile structure metamaterial antenna layer, a textile dielectric substrate layer, and a flexible conductive grid grounding layer to form an integrated textile structure. Then, construct a metamaterial radiation layer on one side of the textile dielectric substrate layer.

[0043] (2) At least the feeding structure and electromagnetic resonant unit in the metamaterial radiation layer are processed (i.e., low resistance connection processing), wherein the processing method includes at least one of laser welding, conductive silver paste connection, thermo-pressed conductive connection, and conductive polymer filling;

[0044] (3) The flexible intelligent processing module is installed in the reserved interface area of ​​the fabric and electrically connected to the sensing power supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer respectively.

[0045] (4) A protective interactive layer is formed on the outside of the metamaterial radiation layer to complete the flexible encapsulation and obtain smart textiles.

[0046] The weaving construction method in step (1) includes at least one of double-needle bed Raschel warp knitting, multi-arm loom, and three-dimensional weaving process.

[0047] Furthermore, in step (1), double-needle bed Raschel warp knitting, multi-arm loom, or three-dimensional weaving technology is used to construct a multi-layer textile matrix with continuous connecting yarns. This enables the intelligent functional layer, the textile dielectric substrate layer of the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer, and the flexible conductive grid grounding layer to form an integrated textile matrix with mechanical connections. Compared with traditional lamination, sewing, or gluing assembly methods, this effectively avoids interlayer slippage, interface peeling, and conductive connection failure during repeated bending and stretching of the human body, thereby improving the overall mechanical reliability of the fabric. At the same time, the sensing and power supply layer and the metamaterial antenna layer form a fixed spatial correspondence, enabling the flexible intelligent processing module to dynamically compensate the antenna in the corresponding area based on local sensing information, thereby achieving integrated collaboration of sensing, communication, and structure.

[0048] In step (1), the method of constructing a metamaterial radiation layer on one side of the textile dielectric substrate includes at least one of embroidery, weaving, printing, spraying, laser processing or other patterned processing methods to form a periodic electromagnetic resonant unit and a feeding structure, thereby forming a metamaterial radiation layer.

[0049] This invention provides an application of any of the aforementioned smart textiles in the fields of human-computer interaction, human motion and health monitoring, remote tactile communication, intelligent wearables, smart medical care, fire rescue, and smart furniture control.

[0050] Beneficial effects

[0051] (1) The radiating layer of the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer of the present invention is designed with an open resonant ring metamaterial array with gradient parameter distribution, so that different resonant units have different resonant frequencies, impedance characteristics and phase responses. When the fabric undergoes deformation such as stretching and bending, the spacing and orientation between each unit will undergo predictable elastic changes, and each resonant unit will generate frequency drift of different degrees, while maintaining continuous electromagnetic response in multiple frequency bands, thereby expanding the effective working bandwidth of the antenna and dynamically offsetting the frequency shift and impedance mismatch caused by deformation.

[0052] (2) The present invention constructs a collaborative system consisting of a sensing and power supply layer, a textile structure metamaterial antenna layer, a protective interaction layer and a flexible intelligent processing module. The flexible intelligent processing module obtains information such as human body temperature, humidity, sweat and strain from the sensing and power supply layer, and dynamically compensates the communication parameters of the metamaterial antenna layer to maintain better radiation performance. This enables wireless communication to adapt to changes in the environment and improves the reliability and stability of information transmission of the intelligent textile system under complex wear conditions.

[0053] (3) This invention designs a three-dimensional textile dielectric substrate for a textile-structured metamaterial antenna layer and integrates it with the sensing functional layer. This structure not only improves the conformality and mechanical stability of the fabric, but also maintains a stable interlayer distance and electromagnetic boundary conditions between the radiating layer and the grounding layer during fabric stretching, bending, and compression, reducing the impact of mechanical properties on antenna performance, achieving synergistic optimization of mechanical and electromagnetic structures, effectively reducing resonance mismatch and impedance drift caused by wearer deformation, and improving the long-term stability of the flexible antenna.

[0054] (4) The present invention adopts a multi-layer textile structure to be constructed in three dimensions in a synchronous manner, forming a continuous textile structure conductive network. Compared with the existing assembly method of preparing the sensing antenna and electronic device separately and then laminating, gluing or sewing, the present invention gives full play to the integrity characteristics of the textile structure, so that the layers form a stable mechanical connection, electrical connection and electromagnetic coupling relationship. This not only improves the softness, breathability and conformity of the fabric, but also has good large-scale manufacturing capability and long-term wear stability. It can be widely used in fields such as smart wearables, health monitoring, human-computer interaction, remote communication and smart protection.

[0055] (5) This invention constructs a protective interactive structure based on the near field of a metamaterial antenna. It utilizes the change in resonance characteristics caused by the human body entering the near field region of the metamaterial to realize touch, swipe proximity and gesture recognition. There is no need to design additional transparent conductive electrodes, avoiding the shielding and impedance mismatch caused by traditional touch recognition electrodes to the antenna radiation performance. At the same time, the low dielectric flexible protective layer has the protective functions of waterproof, breathable and wear-resistant, improving the long-term stability of smart textiles. Attached Figure Description

[0056] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an interactive smart fabric structure based on textile structural metamaterials;

[0057] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of an open resonant ring array for the radiating layer of a textile-structured metamaterial antenna layer. Detailed Implementation

[0058] The present invention will be further illustrated below with reference to specific embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Furthermore, it should be understood that after reading the teachings of this invention, those skilled in the art can make various alterations or modifications to the invention, and these equivalent forms also fall within the scope defined by the appended claims.

[0059] Example 1

[0060] A smart textile includes a sensing and power supply layer, a protective interaction layer, and a textile structure metamaterial antenna layer located between the sensing and power supply layer and the protective interaction layer; wherein the sensing and power supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer are respectively connected to a flexible smart processing module to jointly constitute a smart textile system; wherein the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer sequentially includes a flexible conductive grid grounding layer, a textile dielectric substrate layer, and a metamaterial radiating layer; wherein the metamaterial radiating layer includes multiple electromagnetic resonant units and a feeding structure, wherein the multiple electromagnetic resonant units are periodically arrayed.

[0061] In some specific embodiments, the yarns in the sensing and energy supply layer include functional yarns and structural yarns, wherein the functional yarns include at least one of multimodal sensing functional yarns and energy harvesting functional yarns; for example, the multimodal sensing functional yarns include one or more of temperature-sensitive yarns, humidity-sensitive yarns, sweat detection yarns, and tensile strain sensing yarns; the energy harvesting functional yarns include one or more of triboelectric fibers, piezoelectric fibers, and flexible photovoltaic fibers;

[0062] The sensing functional layer is provided with multiple sensing units. The functional yarns in each sensing unit are gathered at the edge of the fabric through conductive yarns to form a signal output end, which is connected to the signal acquisition end of the flexible intelligent processing module.

[0063] In some specific embodiments, the textile dielectric substrate layer is a three-dimensional spaced fabric structure, including a first fabric layer, connecting yarns, and a second fabric layer, wherein a flexible conductive grid grounding layer is provided on the first fabric layer, and a metamaterial radiation layer is provided on the second fabric layer; wherein the first fabric layer is on the side closer to the sensing functional layer; and the second fabric layer is on the side farther away from the sensing functional layer.

[0064] For example, the connecting yarn may be one or more of the following types: upright, V-shaped, X-shaped, double V-shaped, honeycomb, and truss.

[0065] For example, the first and second fabric layers in the textile dielectric substrate layer are both made of one or more of low-dielectric textile fibers and low-dielectric electrospun nanofibers; the low-dielectric textile fibers include at least one of liquid crystal polymer fiber / ultrafine glass fiber blended yarn and aramid / polyimide blended yarn; the connecting yarn in the textile dielectric substrate layer is selected from one or more of polyester fiber, polyamide fiber, aramid fiber, polyimide fiber, liquid crystal polymer fiber, and polyetheretherketone fiber.

[0066] For example, the electromagnetic resonant unit is an open-loop resonant unit, wherein the periodic array arrangement of the open-loop resonant unit is such that one or more of the following parameters exhibit gradient changes: rotation angle, opening width, ring width, resonant size, and yarn arrangement density; small protrusions or depressions are introduced at different positions of the electromagnetic resonant unit (such as the opening region, the edge region of the ring, and the region where the corner current is concentrated) to excite multiple resonant modes at adjacent frequency points; the feeding structure uses conductive wires, wherein the feeding structure is connected to the electromagnetic resonant unit and the flexible intelligent processing module.

[0067] For example, the rotation angle exhibits a gradient variation: the rotation angle of the open resonant ring unit increases linearly from 0° to 270°, and the opening width exhibits a gradient variation: the gap between the openings increases linearly from 0.3 mm to 0.8 mm; the ring width exhibits a gradient variation, with the ring width varying from 0.2 to 1.5 mm.

[0068] The flexible conductive grid grounding layer is formed by a continuous conductive network of flexible conductive yarns; the metamaterial radiation layer is formed by multiple electromagnetic resonant units and a feeding structure of conductive yarns.

[0069] In some specific embodiments, the protective interaction layer is composed of a transparent low-dielectric elastic polymer; for example, the transparent low-dielectric elastic polymer includes one or more of TPU, PDMS, and fluorosilicone elastomers.

[0070] In some specific embodiments, the flexible intelligent processing module includes one or more of the following: a microcontroller, a signal conditioning circuit, an analog-to-digital converter, a storage unit, a wireless communication unit, and a power management unit.

[0071] Example 2

[0072] The sensing and energy supply layer yarns include multimodal sensing functional yarns, energy harvesting functional yarns, and structural yarns.

[0073] The temperature-sensitive yarn is made of PESOT:PSS conductive fiber with a diameter of 0.1 mm, a room temperature resistance of approximately 180 Ω / cm, and a temperature coefficient of resistance of approximately -0.8% / ℃ under the test conditions.

[0074] The moisture-sensitive yarn uses MXene composite fibers;

[0075] The sweat detection yarn uses microfluidic electrochemical detection yarn;

[0076] The tensile strain sensing yarn uses CNT / TPU coaxially wrapped elastic composite yarn, with 40D spandex as the core yarn. After being impregnated with carbon nanotube slurry, 40D polyester is wrapped on the core yarn, forming a yarn with a diameter of about 0.3 mm.

[0077] The energy harvesting yarn is made of PVDF piezoelectric fiber with a diameter of 0.12 mm;

[0078] The structural yarn uses 40-count cotton / spandex core-spun yarn to ensure the fabric's flexibility and elasticity.

[0079] Various functional yarns are divided into zones according to different functional areas of the human body.

[0080] For example, in smart sportswear, tensile strain sensing yarns are placed in high-deformation areas such as the shoulders, elbows, and knees to acquire joint movement information; moisture-sensitive yarns are placed in the armpits and back areas to monitor sweating; and temperature-sensitive yarns are placed in the chest area to acquire changes in body surface temperature.

[0081] The textile-structured metamaterial antenna layer includes a flexible conductive grid grounding layer, a textile dielectric substrate layer, and a metamaterial radiating layer.

[0082] The textile dielectric substrate is a three-dimensional spaced fabric structure woven from a blend of liquid crystal polymer fiber and ultrafine glass fiber (mass ratio of 7:3), including an upper fabric, a lower fabric, and connecting yarns, wherein the liquid crystal polymer fiber provides excellent radio frequency performance.

[0083] The connecting yarn is made of 50D polyester yarn and uses a double V-shaped connecting structure to form a stable interval of about 2 mm to ensure a stable interlayer spacing between the radiation layer and the grounding layer.

[0084] The flexible conductive grid grounding layer uses 140D silver-plated copper core nylon conductive yarn with a resistance of 0.35 Ω / cm, and is located on the side of the textile dielectric substrate layer close to the sensing and power supply layer.

[0085] The metamaterial radiation layer is located on the side of the textile dielectric substrate away from the sensing and power supply layer, and is formed by embroidering a gradient open resonant ring array using a flat stitch technique on a computer embroidery machine.

[0086] The fabrication of interactive smart clothing based on textile structural metamaterials includes the following steps:

[0087] (1) Using a double-needle-bed Raschel warp knitting machine, a three-dimensional integrated fabric structure is simultaneously formed by utilizing the double needle bed and different guide bars. The front needle bed is used to form the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer; the rear needle bed is used to form the sensing and power supply layer, which adopts a warp plain weave structure.

[0088] (2) The guide bars GB1 and GB2 are used to weave the upper and lower fabrics of the textile dielectric substrate, respectively. GB3 and GB4 are used to form a three-dimensional connecting yarn structure on the front and back needle beds, respectively. The connecting yarn density is 16 yarns / cm. 2On the side of the textile dielectric substrate layer near the sensing and power supply layer, silver-plated copper-core nylon conductive yarn is directly used in GB2 weaving. During the weaving process, conductive lead-out sections are simultaneously formed at the edge of the fabric, serving as grounding connection terminals for the subsequent flexible intelligent processing module. The sensing and power supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer form a spatial correspondence. Taking a 100 mm × 100 mm fabric as an example, the fabric is divided into 16 functional areas. Each part is configured with corresponding sensing and power supply layer yarns and corresponding resonant unit arrays. The flexible intelligent processing module compensates for the communication parameters of the antenna array corresponding to the corresponding area based on the temperature, humidity, and strain information collected in the corresponding area.

[0089] (3) After warp knitting is completed, a metamaterial radiation layer is formed on the side of the textile dielectric substrate away from the sensing functional layer using a computer embroidery machine on the finished fabric. The silver-plated copper core nylon yarn is embroidered with an open resonant ring pattern using a flat stitch, with a stitch length of 0.35 mm and a line spacing of 0.4 mm. The feed part (the part of the connecting line) uses a chain stitch, which can adapt to deformation through the relative rotation between the chain links when bending, greatly improving the resistance to bending fatigue. The unit parameters of the radiation layer are: outer diameter 4 mm, ring width 0.8 mm, opening width increased from 0.3 mm to 0.8 mm, array rotation angle changed from 0° to 270°, and array period 5.5 mm.

[0090] (4) After the embroidery is completed, a pulsed fiber laser with a power of 0.8 W is used to scan and weld the metal lines of the embroidery, so that the silver layer on the surface of the embroidery thread is micro-melted and forms micro-welds with the silver layer on the surface of the adjacent embroidery thread and the fiber at the interlacing point, which greatly reduces the contact resistance of the yarn and reduces the surface roughness loss in the high-frequency band. The joint of the radiation layer yarn is led out and connected to the radio frequency port of the flexible intelligent processing module through micro-dot conductive silver paste and the led-out wire.

[0091] (5) The protective interaction layer is prepared by mixing PDMS and fluorosilicone elastomer at a mass ratio of 8:2. 1 wt% hydrophobic nano-SiO2 is added to adjust the wear resistance. After vacuum degassing, it is covered on the surface of the metamaterial radiation layer by slit coating with a thickness of about 180 μm and cured at 80℃ for 1 h.

[0092] (6) The flexible intelligent processing module uses flexible printed circuit FPC as a carrier. The module is connected to the three-layer fabric interface through hot-pressed anisotropic conductive film, including the sensing power supply layer signal interface, the flexible conductive grid ground layer interface and the metamaterial radiation layer power supply interface. The hot-pressing temperature is 170℃, the pressure is 2 MPa, the holding time is 12 s, and then a flexible TPU encapsulation film is used for local protection.

[0093] The process utilizes a polyimide-based flexible printed circuit board (FPC) as a substrate. Circuit etching is performed on the FPC surface to form flexible conductive lines for sensor signal input, antenna power output, power management, and data communication. Subsequently, solder paste printing and surface mount technology are used to integrate a microcontroller chip, analog-to-digital converter chip, Bluetooth wireless communication chip, power supply chip, and peripheral electronic components onto the FPC surface, forming a flexible intelligent processing module. The flexible intelligent processing module has multi-channel flexible interfaces at its edges, which are connected to pre-reserved interface areas on the fabric via a heat-pressed anisotropic conductive film. The sensing signal interface connects to the conductive leads in the sensing power supply layer, the radio frequency port connects to the metamaterial radiation layer feed structure, and the power interface connects to the energy harvesting yarn. After connection, a transparent TPU encapsulation film is used to partially encapsulate the connection area to improve stability under sweat conditions and bending.

[0094] In the sensing and power supply layer, each functional yarn is divided into multiple sensing units according to a preset area. The functional yarns in each sensing unit are gathered at the edge of the fabric through conductive yarns to form a signal output end, which is connected to the signal acquisition end of the intelligent flexible processing module.

[0095] The feeding structure of the metamaterial radiating layer extends out of the fabric edge to form a radio frequency feeding terminal, which is connected to the wireless communication unit in the flexible intelligent processing module.

[0096] The upper fabric of the textile dielectric substrate layer is formed using a four-needle warp satin weave, resulting in a relatively flat and dimensionally stable fabric surface, providing a stable base for subsequent computer embroidery of the metamaterial radiation layer. The lower fabric uses a warp plain weave, with a denser fabric surface, formed by alternating weaves of liquid crystal polymer / microfiber blended yarn and silver-plated copper-core nylon conductive yarn. The conductive yarn participates in GB2 carding and looping using a full-length, spaced-needle method, forming a continuous diamond-shaped conductive grid in the lower fabric. This ensures both the function of the grounding layer and maintains the flexibility, breathability, and low dielectric properties of the dielectric substrate.

[0097] The antenna layer uses silver-plated copper-core nylon yarn, with an extremely fine copper wire wrapped around the center of the nylon multifilament, followed by overall chemical silver plating. This structure combines the high conductivity of copper, the oxidation resistance of silver, and the flexibility of nylon / copper wire. The expected line resistance is < 0.5 Ω / cm, far superior to pure silver-plated yarn.

[0098] The antenna layer's open-loop resonant design employs a combination of multi-mode resonance and element rotation gradient, introducing minute protrusions or depressions at different locations within the loop to excite multiple resonant modes at adjacent frequencies, thereby achieving broadband performance. For example... Figure 2As shown, in the array, the rotation angle of the cells increases linearly from 0° to 270°, while the gap of the openings increases linearly from 0.3mm to 0.8mm, providing stronger beam control capabilities and a wider phase coverage range.

[0099] The protective interaction layer not only protects the metamaterial radiation layer, but also serves as a human-computer interaction interface, enabling touch, swipe, proximity, and gesture recognition functions through changes in the electromagnetic near field of the metamaterial radiation layer.

[0100] When a human finger approaches or touches the protective interactive layer, the high dielectric constant of human tissue alters the electric field distribution near the open resonant ring, causing changes in the equivalent capacitance, inductance, and impedance parameters of the resonant unit. This results in variations in the resonant frequency, reflection coefficient, or near-field intensity of the metamaterial radiating layer. The flexible intelligent processing module identifies the touch location, proximity distance, and sliding trajectory by collecting changes in the radio frequency response of the metamaterial radiating layer and combining this with the spatial mapping relationship of resonant units at different locations.

[0101] An open-loop resonant array antenna made of yarn embroidery exhibits only a 2% shift in its operating frequency band when the fabric is subjected to a bidirectional 20% strain, with the S11 value remaining less than -10 dB. After repeated bending tests (>10,000 times) with a curvature radius R=10 mm, the S11 curve shift is <2%, and the performance degradation is <10%. It can withstand a single tensile strain of >20% without damage, demonstrating excellent deformability.

[0102] The resonant ring array antenna achieves an average efficiency of 65% in its operating frequency band. Antenna efficiency (η) = radiated power (P_rad) / input power (P_in). The flexible intelligent processing module dynamically compensates for antenna communication parameters in corresponding areas based on temperature, humidity, and strain information collected by the sensing power supply layer. Under human postures such as walking and sitting, intelligent switching between antenna elements and frequency fine-tuning ensure signal reception strength fluctuations of less than 3 dB, guaranteeing stable wireless communication throughout the house. The sensing function layer can capture body posture in real time and, combined with the model from the intelligent processing module, recognize daily activities such as sitting, walking, and falling with an accuracy rate >95%. Users can control smart home devices via touch, voice, or gestures, making and receiving phone calls or performing remote operations.

[0103] The invention is endowed with electromagnetic properties by the microstructure designed by textile process. Its tuning can be achieved by changing the weaving density, yarn structure position, etc., which is fundamentally different from pasting or printing metamaterials on fabric. The invention has excellent dynamic adaptability, flexibility and integratedness.

[0104] Comparative Example 1

[0105] This embodiment is basically the same as Embodiment 2, except that the sensing and power supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer are prepared independently and then assembled by lamination.

[0106] The sensing functional layer is made of 40-count cotton / spandex core-spun yarn, PEDOT:PSS temperature-sensitive yarn, and PVDF piezoelectric yarn to form a warp-plain woven fabric.

[0107] The textile-structured metamaterial antenna layer is made of a three-dimensional spaced fabric woven from liquid crystal polymer / ultrafine glass fiber blended yarn. On one side, a flexible conductive grid grounding layer is woven using silver-plated copper core nylon conductive yarn, and on the other side, an open resonant ring array and a feeding structure are formed using computer embroidery, and laser welding is completed.

[0108] TPU hot melt adhesive film was used. The sensing and power supply layer and the antenna layer were laminated and composited at 130°C and 0.3MPa for 90 seconds. Finally, the same low dielectric protective interaction layer as in Example 2 was coated on the outside of the radiating layer of the antenna layer, and the same flexible intelligent processing module was connected.

[0109] Because the sensing and power supply layer and the textile-structured metamaterial antenna layer are fabricated separately and then laminated together, there is no continuous textile connection between them. During long-term use and repeated bending deformation, relative slippage and deviation occur between the layers, causing changes in the positional correspondence between the sensing and antenna regions. After more than 1000 bending deformations, the local positional shift between the two layers is approximately 0.1~0.3 mm. The original intelligent processing module's dynamic compensation for antenna communication cannot accurately correspond to the affected area, leading to a decrease in compensation accuracy. Simultaneously, due to the presence of the lamination interface, the overall flexibility and conformality of the fabric decrease, and the antenna layer is affected by localized stress concentration. Its impedance matching stability and wireless communication reliability are lower than in Example 2. When the fabric is subjected to a bidirectional 20% strain, its operating frequency band drifts by approximately 4.5%, and the S11 value of the operating frequency band is greater than -10 dB. After repeated bending tests (>10000 times) with a curvature radius R=10 mm, the S11 curve shift exceeds 5%, and the performance degradation is greater than 20%.

[0110] Comparative Example 2

[0111] This embodiment is basically the same as Embodiment 2, except that the sensing and power supply layer only uses structural yarns and does not have other functional yarns, and does not have the function of collecting information such as temperature, humidity, and strain. The flexible intelligent processing module only performs wireless communication functions and operates with fixed parameters.

[0112] The rest of the structure remains the same.

[0113] During human movement, increased sweating, elevated temperature, and deformation occur, causing antenna impedance drift and a significant decrease in communication performance. When the fabric is subjected to a bidirectional 20% strain, its operating frequency band drift is greater than 5%, and the S11 value of the operating frequency band is greater than -10 dB. After human movement or walking / sitting, the signal reception intensity fluctuates by approximately 8-10 dB, and the fabric lacks the ability to recognize and perceive human physiological signals and behaviors, thus lacking interactive functionality.

[0114] Comparative Example 3

[0115] This embodiment is basically the same as Embodiment 2, except that the metamaterial radiation layer adopts an array of open resonant rings with completely uniform size. All resonant rings have an opening width of 0.5 mm, a ring width of 0.8 mm, a rotation angle of 0°, and a consistent array period. No gradient structure parameters are set.

[0116] The rest of the structure remains the same.

[0117] Since the resonant units have the same resonant frequency, when the fabric is stretched or bent, each unit generates frequency drift in the same direction, the overall working frequency band shifts, it is difficult to maintain a fixed working bandwidth, the average efficiency in the working frequency band drops to 55%, the intensity fluctuation is about 6~8 dB, and the wireless communication stability during human movement is lower than that in Example 2.

[0118] Example 3

[0119] This embodiment is basically the same as embodiment 2, except that the textile dielectric substrate layer adopts a gradient three-dimensional spaced fabric structure to improve the fabric's commonality under complex human movement conditions and the antenna's deformation stability.

[0120] High-deformation areas include active areas of the human body such as the shoulder, elbow, and knee joints. The connecting yarns in these areas utilize a larger spacing height and a lower density structure. The connecting yarn height is 3mm, and the density is 12 yarns / cm². 2 The moderate deformation area includes the chest and back of the human body. The connecting yarn height is 2mm, and the density of the connecting yarn is 16 threads / cm. 2 The low-deformation area is a relatively stable region such as the waist and abdomen of the human body. The connecting yarn height is 1.5mm, and the connecting yarn density is 20 yarns / cm. 2 .

[0121] In high deformation regions, the increased spacing between connecting yarns provides greater structural buffer space for fabric bending or stretching, reducing local stress concentration in the radiation layer during human movement. In low deformation regions, the increased density of connecting yarns enhances the overall support capacity of the fabric, maintaining a stable distance between the flexible conductive mesh grounding layer and the metamaterial radiation layer.

Claims

1. A smart textile, characterized in that, The textile includes a sensing and power supply layer, a protective interaction layer, and a textile structure metamaterial antenna layer located between the sensing and power supply layer and the protective interaction layer; wherein the sensing and power supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer are respectively connected to a flexible intelligent processing module, together constituting an intelligent textile system; The textile-structured metamaterial antenna layer comprises, in sequence, a flexible conductive mesh grounding layer, a textile dielectric substrate layer, and a metamaterial radiating layer; The metamaterial radiating layer includes multiple electromagnetic resonant units and a feeding structure, wherein the multiple electromagnetic resonant units are arranged in a periodic array.

2. The smart textile according to claim 1, characterized in that, The yarns in the sensing and energy supply layer include functional yarns and structural yarns. The functional yarns include at least one of multimodal sensing functional yarns and energy harvesting functional yarns. The multimodal sensing functional yarns include one or more of temperature-sensitive yarns, humidity-sensitive yarns, sweat detection yarns, and tensile strain sensing yarns. The energy harvesting functional yarns include one or more of triboelectric fibers, piezoelectric fibers, and flexible photovoltaic fibers. The sensing functional layer is provided with multiple sensing units. The functional yarns in each sensing unit are gathered at the edge of the fabric through conductive yarns to form a signal output end, which is connected to the signal acquisition end of the flexible intelligent processing module.

3. The smart textile according to claim 1, characterized in that, The textile dielectric substrate is a three-dimensional spaced fabric structure, including a first fabric layer, connecting yarns and a second fabric layer, wherein a flexible conductive grid grounding layer is provided on the first fabric layer and a metamaterial radiation layer is provided on the second fabric layer. The connecting yarn is one or more of the following types: upright, V-shaped, X-shaped, double V-shaped, honeycomb, and truss. The first fabric layer is located on the side closer to the sensing function layer, and the second fabric layer is located on the side farther away from the sensing function layer.

4. The smart textile according to claim 3, characterized in that, The first and second fabric layers in the textile dielectric substrate layer are both made of one or more of low-dielectric textile fibers and low-dielectric electrospun nanofibers; the low-dielectric textile fibers include at least one of liquid crystal polymer fiber / ultrafine glass fiber blended yarn and aramid / polyimide blended yarn; the connecting yarn in the textile dielectric substrate layer is selected from one or more of polyester fiber, polyamide fiber, aramid fiber, polyimide fiber, liquid crystal polymer fiber, and polyetheretherketone fiber.

5. The smart textile according to claim 1, characterized in that, The electromagnetic resonant unit is an open resonant ring unit, wherein the periodic array arrangement is such that one or more of the rotation angle, opening width, ring width, resonant size, and yarn arrangement density of the open resonant ring unit exhibit gradient changes. The electromagnetic resonant unit introduces tiny protrusions or depressions at different locations to excite multiple resonant modes at adjacent frequency points. The power supply structure uses conductive wires, and the power supply structure is connected to the electromagnetic resonant unit and the flexible intelligent processing module.

6. The smart textile according to claim 5, characterized in that, The rotation angle exhibits a gradient variation: the rotation angle of the open resonant ring unit increases linearly from 0° to 270°, and the opening width exhibits a gradient variation: the gap between the openings increases linearly from 0.3 mm to 0.8 mm; the ring width exhibits a gradient variation, with the ring width varying from 0.2 to 1.5 mm.

7. The smart textile according to claim 1, characterized in that, The flexible conductive grid grounding layer is formed by a continuous conductive network of flexible conductive yarns; the metamaterial radiating layer is formed by multiple electromagnetic resonant units and a feeding structure of conductive yarns. The conductive yarns in the flexible conductive grid grounding layer and the metamaterial radiation layer include at least one of carbon fiber, PEDOT:PSS fiber, silver-plated copper core nylon yarn, and silver-plated yarn. The protective interactive layer is composed of a transparent low-dielectric elastic polymer and forms an electromagnetic near-field tactile sensing interactive structure based on a metamaterial radiating layer, used to identify touch, swipe, proximity and gesture information; or further integrates one or more of capacitive tactile sensing, optical tactile interaction and inductive tactile interaction. The transparent low-dielectric elastic polymer mentioned above includes one or more of TPU, PDMS, and fluorosilicone elastomers.

8. The smart textile according to claim 1, characterized in that, The flexible intelligent processing module includes one or more of the following: a microcontroller, a signal conditioning circuit, an analog-to-digital converter, a storage unit, a wireless communication unit, and a power management unit.

9. A method for preparing a smart textile, comprising: (1) Simultaneously weave and construct a sensing power supply layer, a textile structure metamaterial antenna layer, a textile dielectric substrate layer, and a flexible conductive grid grounding layer to form an integrated textile structure. Then, construct a metamaterial radiation layer on one side of the textile dielectric substrate layer. (2) At least the feeding structure and electromagnetic resonant unit in the metamaterial radiation layer are processed, wherein the processing method includes at least one of laser welding, conductive silver paste connection, thermo-pressed conductive connection, and conductive polymer filling; (3) The flexible intelligent processing module is installed in the reserved interface area of ​​the fabric and electrically connected to the sensing power supply layer and the textile structure metamaterial antenna layer respectively. (4) A protective interactive layer is formed on the outside of the metamaterial radiation layer to complete the flexible encapsulation and obtain smart textiles.

10. The application of any one of the smart textiles described in claims 1-8 in the fields of human-computer interaction, human motion and health monitoring, remote tactile communication, intelligent wearables, smart medical care, fire rescue, and smart furniture control.

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