Conductive Textile Touch Sensor for Flexible Object Integration

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Solution Overview

Problem

Producing touch sensors that are light, flexible, and adaptive to various uses is complicated and expensive, as conventional touch pads are non-flexible and costly to produce and integrate into objects.

Innovation Solution

Interactive textiles with a grid of conductive thread woven into them to form capacitive touch sensors, allowing for the detection of touch-input and generation of touch data to control remote devices, which can be integrated into both flexible and hard objects through various methods such as weaving, sewing, or injection molding.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If conventional touch pads are used, then touch sensing function is achieved, but flexibility and ease of integration are poor

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveflexibilityVSAvoidease of integration

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces rigid touch pad structures with flexible textile substrates woven with conductive threads. The textile base allows the touch sensor to be integrated into flexible objects like clothing and fabric casings, directly resolving the contradiction between achieving touch sensing functionality and maintaining flexibility for easy integration.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates a composite structure by weaving conductive threads into textile fabric, combining the flexibility of textile materials with the electrical conductivity needed for touch sensing. This composite approach enables both flexibility and functional performance simultaneously.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #40Composite materials

2Reliability

If conventional touch sensors are produced, then touch detection capability is achieved, but production cost is high

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetouch detection capabilityVSAvoidproduction cost

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent employs inexpensive conductive threads and textile materials instead of expensive conventional touch sensor components. The use of standard weaving processes and affordable materials significantly reduces production costs while maintaining reliable touch detection capability through the capacitive sensor grid formed by the conductive threads.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces complex mechanical touch sensor assemblies with a simpler capacitive sensing system based on conductive textile. This substitution eliminates the need for expensive mechanical components and complex assembly processes, reducing production costs while maintaining detection reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Reliability

If conventional touch pads are used, then touch sensing is achieved, but device weight is high

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetouch sensing functionVSAvoidsensor weight

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSWeight of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses thin textile fabric as the substrate for the touch sensor, replacing bulky rigid touch pad structures. This dramatically reduces the weight of the sensing component while maintaining flexible form factor and touch detection functionality, directly addressing the weight reduction need.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

Solution Approach 2:

The lightweight textile composite structure combines flexible fabric with thin conductive threads to create a touch sensor that is significantly lighter than conventional rigid touch pads, while maintaining adequate sensing capability through the capacitive grid formed by the conductive elements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #40Composite materials

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

Enables the creation of affordable and flexible touch sensors that can be easily integrated into diverse objects, allowing users to control various devices and applications with intuitive gestures, enhancing usability and reducing production costs.

Implementation Method 1

a grid of conductive thread woven into the interactive textile to form a capacitive touch sensor that is configured to detect touch-input

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectCapacitance: Capacitance

Data Source

PatentUS9588625B2Interactive textiles

Publication Date: 2017.03.07 GOOGLE LLC

AI summary

This document describes interactive textiles. An interactive textile includes a grid of conductive thread woven into the interactive textile to form a capacitive touch sensor that is configured to detect touch-input. The interactive textile can process the touch-input to generate touch data that is useable to control various remote devices. For example, the interactive textiles may aid users in controlling volume on a stereo, pausing a movie playing on a television, or selecting a webpage on a desktop computer. Due to the flexibility of textiles, the interactive textile may be easily integrated within flexible objects, such as clothing, handbags, fabric casings, hats, and so forth. In one or more implementations, the interactive textiles may be integrated within various hard objects, such as by injection molding the interactive textile into a plastic cup, a hard casing of a smart phone, and so forth.