A full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system

Abstract

The present invention discloses a full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system, which belongs to the field of smart wearables and includes three parts: sensing fabric, wiring and data acquisition hardware module. The sensing fabric is in the shape of a long-sleeved sweater, and the woven materials are conductive yarn, resistive yarn and insulating yarn. The formed sensing unit array covers most of the upper torso of the human body, realizing the sensing function while retaining the soft and breathable characteristics of the textile, and has strong wearability. Both the sensing fabric and the data acquisition hardware module can be stably mass-produced by machines or technologies already available on the market, and the yarn for weaving the sensing fabric can also be purchased directly from the market. Real-time monitoring of the surface pressure distribution of the upper torso of the human body can be achieved, and static or dynamic human activities can be identified through data analysis.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of intelligent wearables, and in particular relates to a full-coverage piezoresistive intelligent clothing sensing system. Background Art

[0002] As one of the necessities of life, clothing is in contact with the human body for a long time and covers most of the human body surface. It is an excellent choice for obtaining human information and monitoring human signals. With the emergence of new textile materials and the development of electronic technology, combined with mature textile technology, smart wearables have gradually developed a major branch - smart textiles. Smart textiles are soft, breathable, portable and durable, suitable for long-term real-time monitoring of human activities. Almost all human activities involve contact with oneself or the outside world. Whether static posture or dynamic activity, it can be sensed by piezoresistive smart textiles. Piezoresistive smart textiles have become a major research focus at present. Common piezoresistive smart textiles include smart socks, smart sleeves and smart gloves. The above products are all local coverage sensing systems with small scale and limited recognition ability of human activities. It is difficult to analyze coordinated movements involving multiple parts of the body. Large-scale pressure sensing units use a large number of wiring. In order to control the number and simplify the design, the sensing units are usually arranged in a matrix form, with each row and each column occupying one channel respectively. When making clothes and pants, multiple pieces of irregularly shaped cloth are pieced together. On this basis, it is difficult to take into account the full coverage of the sensor unit and the reasonable arrangement of the circuit. At present, in order to detect the pressure distribution on the surface of the human body, more key parts of the clothes, such as shoulders, elbows and chest, are selected to place independent pressure sensors. Not only is the production complex and unable to achieve full coverage, but the poor flexibility of the placed sensor units may also affect the wearing comfort. Summary of the invention

[0003] In order to obtain an intelligent wearable system that is highly wearable and can realize a large-scale pressure monitoring function on the surface of the human body, the present invention provides a full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system. The smart clothing retains the softness and breathability of textiles, realizes real-time monitoring of the pressure distribution on the surface of the human body, and can be used for the identification of complex human activities. The present invention uses new textile materials, combines textile technology, and reasonably designs the fabric structure and wiring connection method to produce a soft, breathable, and highly wearable full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system.

[0004] The technical solution adopted by the present invention to solve its technical problem is:

[0005] A full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system, comprising:

[0006] A sensing fabric, the sensing fabric is a long-sleeved sweater, comprising an inner layer and an outer layer, both of which are striped conductive fabrics, and the positions of the inner layer and the outer layer are interchangeable; the striped conductive fabric is woven with two stripes that appear alternately, one is an insulating part woven with insulating yarn, and the other is a sensing strip woven with conductive yarn and resistive yarn; the striped conductive fabric is stacked in a direction relative to the resistive layer and in a manner that the stripes form a 90-degree angle to form a sensing array, and the contacting part is a sensing unit, the sensing strip comprises a resistive layer formed by the resistive yarn and a conductive layer formed by the conductive yarn, the resistive layer acts as a pressure sensor, and the conductive layer acts as an electrode;

[0007] Cables are used to connect the sensor strips in the sensor fabric to the data acquisition hardware module;

[0008] The data acquisition hardware module provides power supply, signal scanning, data preprocessing and data transmission functions.

[0009] Furthermore, the inner and outer striped conductive fabrics of the sensing fabric both include a front lapel, a back piece, a left sleeve and a right sleeve; the sensing strips of the front lapel and the back piece of the outer layer of the striped conductive fabric below the armpits are connected; the sensing strips of the front lapel, the back piece, the left sleeve and the right sleeve of the outer layer above the armpits and below the collar are connected; the left and right sensing strips of the front lapel, the back piece, the left sleeve and the right sleeve of the outer layer above the collar are connected respectively.

[0010] Furthermore, the striped conductive cloth is woven by a knitting jacquard process or a woven tubular fabric process, and the width and number of the insulating part and the sensor stripes are adjustable.

[0011] Furthermore, the insulating part of the striped conductive cloth is a single-layer, double-layer or multi-layer structure, which is used to connect adjacent sensor strips; the insulating yarn is cotton yarn, polyester, polyester-cotton blended yarn, and the resistivity range is 10 10 ~10 22 Ω / cm.

[0012] Furthermore, the sensor strip of the striped conductive cloth is woven from conductive yarn and resistive yarn to form a two-layer structure, namely a conductive layer and a resistive layer; the conductive yarn is a metal wire such as stainless steel, silver or copper, or a blended yarn of metal wire and insulating fiber, wherein the insulating fiber is a cotton fiber, polyester or aramid fiber, or a metal-plated yarn, and its resistivity is less than 100Ω / cm; the resistive yarn is a blended yarn of metal wire and insulating fiber, or is composed of high molecular organic matter doped with conductive particles or conductive high molecular organic matter itself, and its resistivity range is 10 4 ~10 9 Ω / cm.

[0013] Furthermore, the flat cable is an enameled wire, a film-wrapped wire or a film-wrapped metal wire; after the flat cable is connected to the conductive layer of the sensor strip by sewing, welding, nailing or gluing, it is gathered along the seam line of the cloth piece to a corner of the sweater and connected to the data acquisition hardware module; according to the characteristics of the flat cable used, the gathering method is sewing, embroidery, packaging or gluing.

[0014] Furthermore, the controller of the data acquisition hardware module can be a single-chip microcomputer, a digital signal processor or a field programmable gate array, etc., and the data can be transmitted wired or wirelessly through Bluetooth FSC-BT836, serial port CH340, USB interface CYUSB3014 or Gigabit Ethernet RTL8211.

[0015] Furthermore, the resistance yarn may be carbon-doped chemical fiber, metal particle-doped chemical fiber, or polypyrrole fiber.

[0016] The beneficial effect of the present invention is that the pressure on the upper torso of the human body can be monitored in real time, and the wider coverage of the sensor unit can support the analysis of coordinated movements involving multiple parts of the body. The reasonable design of the sensor strip position reduces the use of cables in the entire system and reduces the impact of cable embedding on the flexibility and overall appearance of the system. Wearing a complete set of full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing has almost no impact on daily life, and its softness and breathability are very user-friendly. The yarns used in the smart clothing can all be produced by existing spinning machines, and smart fabrics of different shapes can be woven on existing knitting machines, which are easy to sew and can be put into mass production. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 2 Decomposition of the sensing fabric pieces of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 3 The sensing fabric of the present invention has a two-layer structure;

[0020] Figure 4 The sensing fabric of the present invention has a three-layer structure;

[0021] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the smart pants system of the present invention;

[0022] Figure 6 The sensor fabric is a local structure of the present invention.

[0023] In the figure: 1. Sensing fabric; 2. Cable arrangement; 3. Data acquisition hardware module; 4. Conductive layer; 5. Resistor layer; 6. Insulation part; 7. Striped conductive fabric; 8. Striped conductive layer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. In addition, the technical features involved in the various embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.

[0025] like Figure 1 As shown, the full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system of the present invention includes a sensing fabric 1, a wiring harness 2 and a data acquisition hardware module 3.

[0026] Specifically, the sensor fabric 1 is woven by using a knitting jacquard process.

[0027] Specifically, the sensing fabric 1 is in the shape of a long-sleeved sweater. In the knitting industry, the manufacturing process of a sweater is reflected in the process sheet, which describes the weaving details of each piece of clothing that constitutes the sweater. The finished garment can be obtained by splicing pieces of different shapes. The selected long-sleeved sweater covers a wide area of ​​the upper torso of the human body, has a simple and slim fit, and is suitable for pressure monitoring. Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, the sensor fabric 1 of the present invention is formed by splicing striped conductive fabrics 7 in the shape of garment pieces, including an inner layer and an outer layer, and the positions of the inner layer and the outer layer are interchangeable.

[0028] Optional, such as Figure 3 As shown, the inner layer is a striped conductive cloth 7 placed vertically, and the outer layer is a striped conductive cloth 7 placed horizontally. Both layers of striped conductive cloth 7 are composed of a front placket, a back piece, a left sleeve and a right sleeve. The front placket and the back piece of the outer layer are below the armpits, and the sensing strips are connected (such as Figure 1 The sensor strips of the outer front, back, left sleeve and right sleeve above the armpit and below the collar are connected; the sensor strips of the outer front, back, left sleeve and right sleeve above the collar are connected respectively, which effectively reduces the number of wiring. The parameters in the process sheet can be changed according to users of different body shapes, and different styles of process sheets can be used according to different usage scenarios.

[0029] Specifically, the striped conductive cloth 7 is woven with two kinds of stripes at intervals, one is the insulating part 6 woven with insulating yarn, and the other is the sensing strip woven with conductive yarn and resistive yarn. The width and number of the stripes can be adjusted according to actual needs.

[0030] Specifically, the insulating portion 6 is woven using a four-level needle method in a knitting process to connect adjacent sensor strips. The insulating yarn can be any common insulating yarn such as cotton yarn, polyester, polyester-cotton blended yarn, etc., with a resistivity range of 10 10~10 22 Ω / cm.

[0031] Specifically, the sensor strip is woven from conductive yarn and resistive yarn by a knitting jacquard process to obtain an air layer jacquard fabric, and a two-layer structure is obtained in a designated area, namely a conductive layer 4 woven from conductive yarn and a resistive layer 5 woven from resistive yarn.

[0032] Optionally, the conductive yarn is made of metal wires such as stainless steel, silver or copper, or a blended yarn spun from metal wires and insulating fibers, or a metal-plated yarn, and its resistivity is less than 100Ω / cm. The insulating fibers shown are cotton fibers, polyester, aramid fibers, and the like.

[0033] Optionally, the resistance yarn can be a blended yarn of metal wire and insulating fiber, or can be made of high molecular organic matter mixed with conductive particles or only made of conductive high molecular organic matter, such as carbon-doped chemical fiber, metal particle-doped chemical fiber and polypyrrole fiber, etc., and its resistivity range is 10 4 ~10 9 The resistivity of the blended yarn is controlled by adjusting the blending ratio.

[0034] Optionally, both the conductive yarn and the resistive yarn can be combined with spandex, acrylic and other elastic yarns to change their mechanical properties without affecting their resistivity.

[0035] Specifically, the striped conductive fabrics 7 are stacked in a direction opposite to the resistance layer 5 with the stripes at an angle of 90 degrees to form a sensing array, and the contacting parts are sensing units, with the resistance layer 5 acting as a pressure sensor and the conductive layer 4 acting as an electrode. When the sensing fabric 1 is subjected to pressure, on the one hand, the contact area of ​​the resistance layers 5 of the two striped conductive fabrics increases, and on the other hand, as the pressure increases, the resistance yarns inside the resistance layer 5 become more closely contacted, and the resistance of the sensing unit decreases, and the pressure condition of the sensing fabric 1 can be inferred from the change in its resistance.

[0036] Optionally, the sensing fabric 1 is woven by a computerized flat knitting machine. The striped conductive fabric 7 based on the knitting process can be woven by a hand-cranked flat knitting machine, a computerized flat knitting machine, or even some circular knitting machines that can weave double layers, and its brand is not restricted. Generally, the thinner the needle, the thinner the fabric can be woven, which is helpful to reduce the wearing burden of the user. At the same time, the adaptation of the three types of yarns and the machine model should be considered, and the fabric structure of the conductive layer 4 and the resistance layer 5 should be as close as possible, and the yarn and machine model should be selected after comprehensive consideration.

[0037] Optionally, the cable 2 is used to connect the conductive layer 4 of the sensor strip in the striped conductive cloth 7 and the data acquisition hardware module 3, and can be an enameled wire, a film-wrapped wire, or a film-wrapped metal wire. Figure 1As shown, the flat cable 2 is connected to the conductive layer 4 of the sensor strip by sewing, welding, nailing or gluing, and then gathered along the sewing line of the cloth piece to a corner of the sweater and connected to the data acquisition hardware module 3. According to the characteristics of the flat cable material used, the gathering method can be sewing, embroidery, packaging or gluing.

[0038] Specifically, the data acquisition hardware module 3 provides power supply, signal scanning, data preprocessing, data transmission and storage functions. The controller of the data acquisition hardware module 3 can be a single-chip microcomputer, DSP (digital signal processor) or FPGA (field programmable gate array), etc., and the storage function can be realized by an SD card or a hard disk. One layer of the smart fabric 1 is selected for signal scanning (output high level), and the other layer is used for signal reception. The received voltage division value is converted into a digital signal through the ADC (analog-to-digital converter). After the scanning is completed, the voltage values ​​of all sensor units in the sensor fabric 1 can be obtained. The data can be transmitted by wire or wireless means, specifically Bluetooth FSC-BT836, serial port CH340, USB interface CYUSB3014 or Gigabit Ethernet RTL8211, etc., and the pressure condition of the smart fabric can be analyzed in the terminal system.

[0039] The present invention further provides an embodiment in which the sensor fabric 1 is manufactured by a knitting process. Figure 4 As shown, the three-layer structure is composed of two striped conductive layers 8 and a resistor layer 5, all of which are woven into the shape of garment pieces and sewn together to form the sensing fabric 1.

[0040] Optionally, the three layers of fabric can be single-layer, double-layer or multi-layer structures, and the weaving needle method used can be Siping, plain weave, bird's eye Siping or rib, etc. Two striped conductive layers 8 are placed at a 90-degree angle, and one or more resistance layers 5 are placed in the middle to form an array type pressure sensing unit group.

[0041] Specifically, the striped conductive layer 8 is woven with two types of stripes, one is the insulating part 6 and the other is the conductive layer 4 .

[0042] Optionally, the resistor layer 5 can be woven from resistor yarn alone, or an insulating yarn can be added to weave a striped resistor layer. The stripe spacing of the resistor layer 5 is required to be consistent with the stripe spacing of the conductive layer 4 in the striped conductive layer 8, and the width is greater than or equal to the width of the conductive layer stripes in the striped conductive layer 8.

[0043] Specifically, the details of the cable 2 and the data acquisition hardware module 3 are consistent with those of the basic embodiment.

[0044] The present invention further provides an embodiment in which the sensor fabric 1 is woven using a woven tubular fabric process to obtain a Figure 3 The striped conductive cloth 7 of the structure shown.

[0045] Specifically, unlike the knitting process which can directly weave a cloth sample in the shape of a garment piece, the cloth sample woven by the weaving process is rectangular and needs to be cut to obtain the striped conductive cloth 7 in the shape of a garment piece. The remaining steps are consistent with the embodiment.

[0046] The present invention further provides an embodiment in which the sensor fabric 1 is woven using a woven fabric process to obtain Figure 4 The sensing fabric 1 has a three-layer structure as shown.

[0047] Optionally, the three layers of fabric can be single-layer, double-layer or multi-layer structures, and the basic weave structure can be plain, twill or satin, etc. Two striped conductive layers 8 are placed at 90 degrees, and one or more resistance layers 5 are placed in the middle to form an array type pressure sensing unit group.

[0048] Specifically, unlike the knitting process which can directly weave a cloth sample in the shape of a garment piece, the cloth sample woven by the weaving process is rectangular and needs to be cut to obtain the striped conductive cloth 7 in the shape of a garment piece. The remaining steps are consistent with the embodiment.

[0049] The present invention further provides an embodiment in which the shape of the garment piece of the sensor fabric 1 is changed, such as Figure 5 As shown, full-coverage piezoresistive smart pants can be made.

[0050] Optionally, the sensor fabric 1 may be a two-layer structure or a three-layer structure, and the textile process used may be a knitting process or a weaving process. The remaining steps are consistent with the embodiment.

[0051] The present invention also provides an embodiment in which the shape of the pieces of the sensor fabric 1 is changed to produce a full-coverage piezoresistive sensor system that does not cover a large area of ​​the human body, such as a smart vest, underwear, shorts, chest band, armband, etc. The full coverage means that the entire piece of clothing is a sensor fabric, regardless of the size of the clothing.

[0052] Optionally, the sensor fabric 1 may be a two-layer structure or a three-layer structure, and the textile process used may be a knitting process or a weaving process. The remaining steps are consistent with the embodiment.

[0053] The present invention further provides an embodiment in which the sensor fabric 1 can be locally constructed on any clothing, such as Figure 6 shown.

[0054] Optionally, the partially constructed sensor fabric 1 may be a two-layer structure or a three-layer structure, the weaving method used may be a knitting process or a weaving process, and the shape may be designed. The partially constructed sensor fabric 1 may be attached to clothing by sewing, pasting, buttoning or packaging. The remaining steps are consistent with the embodiment.

[0055] Obviously, the described embodiments are only some preferred examples of the present invention, rather than all examples. Each embodiment focuses on the differences from other examples, and the same or similar parts between the examples can refer to each other. The protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and all technical solutions under the concept of the present invention belong to the protection scope of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications made without departing from the principle of the present invention should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system, characterized in that: include: A sensing fabric, the sensing fabric is a long-sleeved sweater, comprising an inner layer and an outer layer, both of which are striped conductive fabrics, and the positions of the inner layer and the outer layer are interchangeable; the striped conductive fabric is woven with two stripes that appear alternately, one is an insulating part woven with insulating yarn, and the other is a sensing strip woven with conductive yarn and resistive yarn; the striped conductive fabric is stacked in a direction relative to the resistive layer and in a manner that the stripes form a 90-degree angle to form a sensing array, and the contacting part is a sensing unit, the sensing strip comprises a resistive layer formed by the resistive yarn and a conductive layer formed by the conductive yarn, the resistive layer acts as a pressure sensor, and the conductive layer acts as an electrode; Cables are used to connect the sensor strips in the sensor fabric to the data acquisition hardware module; The data acquisition hardware module provides power supply, signal scanning, data preprocessing, data transmission and storage functions.

2. The full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The inner and outer striped conductive fabrics of the sensing fabric both include a front lapel, a back piece, a left sleeve and a right sleeve; the sensing strips of the front lapel and the back piece of the outer layer of the striped conductive fabric below the armpits are connected; the sensing strips of the front lapel, the back piece, the left sleeve and the right sleeve of the outer layer above the armpits and below the collar are connected; the left and right sensing strips of the front lapel, the back piece, the left sleeve and the right sleeve of the outer layer above the collar are respectively connected.

3. A full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The striped conductive cloth is woven by a knitting process or a weaving process, and the width and number of the insulating part and the sensor stripes are adjustable.

4. A full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The insulating part of the striped conductive cloth is a single-layer, double-layer or multi-layer structure, woven from insulating yarns, and is used to connect adjacent sensor strips.

5. A full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The sensor strip of the striped conductive cloth is woven from conductive yarn and resistive yarn to form a two-layer structure, namely a conductive layer and a resistive layer; the resistivity of the conductive yarn is less than 100Ω / cm; the resistivity of the resistive yarn is in the range of 10 4 ~10 9 Ω / cm.

6. The full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flat wire is an enameled wire; after being connected to the conductive layer of the sensor strip by sewing, welding, nailing or gluing, the flat wire is gathered together and connected to the data acquisition hardware module; according to the characteristics of the flat wire used, the gathering method is sewing, embroidery, packaging or gluing.

7. A full-coverage piezoresistive smart clothing sensing system according to claim 1 or 6, characterized in that: The controller of the data acquisition hardware module is a single chip microcomputer, a digital signal processor or a field programmable gate array, and transmits data by wire or wirelessly via Bluetooth, a serial port, a USB interface or a Gigabit Ethernet.

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