Textile Flat Material With Floating Conductors For Medical Components

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing textile flat materials for medical technology applications lack secure and efficient methods for absorbing and integrating electrical and electronic components, such as microcontrollers and sensors, for long-term use and multiple applications, including wound treatment and signal monitoring.

Innovation Solution

A textile flat material produced in a web process with a design featuring a carrier section and pocket sections, where the pocket sections include a floating electrical conductor with a flotation distance of at least 5 mm, allowing for selective connection and protection of electrical components, and elastic threads for secure positioning and prevention of component displacement.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If electrical conductors are woven into the textile material in the pocket layers, then electrical connection is established, but the components cannot be securely accommodated and are prone to displacement

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesecure accommodation of componentsVSAvoidstructure for component retention
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The textile material is divided into distinct functional sections: a carrier section providing structural support and pocket sections for accommodating components. This segmentation allows the support section to bear the mechanical load of securing components while the pocket sections provide targeted accommodation spaces, resolving the contradiction between secure accommodation and structural complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A floating electrical conductor with a flotation distance of at least 5 mm acts as an intermediary element between the pocket layers. This conductor is not rigidly fixed but floats between the first and second pocket layers, providing electrical connection while allowing components to be securely positioned without direct mechanical constraint, thus maintaining reliability without increasing device complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If the floating distance of electrical conductors is increased to at least 5 mm, then electrical connections become more flexible and secure, but the manufacturing precision required increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveelectrical connection stabilityVSAvoidfloating distance control
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The electrical conductor is designed to float between the pocket layers rather than being rigidly fixed at a precise distance. This dynamic arrangement allows the conductor to adapt its position within the至少有 5 mm flotation distance, providing flexible and secure electrical connections while reducing the stringency of manufacturing precision requirements through the use of elastic threads and the inherent flexibility of the woven structure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

3Duration of action of stationary object

If the textile material is designed with pocket sections for component accommodation, then components can be integrated for long-term use, but the ease of manufacture decreases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvelong-term use capabilityVSAvoidweaving process complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Duration of action of stationary objectVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The pocket sections serve multiple functions: they accommodate electrical and electronic components, provide structural organization, and maintain the textile's flexibility. The same woven structure that provides mechanical support also creates the pockets through the arrangement of warp and weft threads, eliminating the need for separate pocket-forming processes and maintaining ease of manufacture while enabling long-term component integration.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP4298275B1Flat textile material having integrated pockets for receiving electrical and/or electronic components for medical measurement and/or control purposes
Publication Date: 2025.04.30 KOB GMBH
  • EP4298275B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4298275B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4298275B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4

AI summary

The invention relates to a flat textile material (2) for applying to a human or animal body (4) and for receiving electrical and/or electronic components (6) for medical measurement and/or control purposes, comprising: a longitudinal direction (8); a transverse direction (10) running transversely to the longitudinal direction; a plane of extension (12); a thickness direction (13) orthogonal to the plane of extension (12); at least one carrier portion (36), which extends in the longitudinal direction (8) and has a carrier layer (44); at least one pocket portion (34), which extends in the longitudinal direction (8), adjoins the carrier portion (36) in the longitudinal direction (8) and has at least one pocket (22) for receiving the electrical and/or electronic components (6); wherein the at least one pocket (22) comprises a first pocket layer (38) nearer the body and a second pocket layer (40) farther from the body, which delimit a pocket space (42) therebetween; wherein the at least one pocket (22) has at least one pocket opening (30) accessible in the transverse direction (10); wherein the flat textile material (2) comprises warp threads (48) arranged in the longitudinal direction (8) and weft threads (50) arranged in the transverse direction (10), which form the carrier layer (44), the first pocket layer (38) and the second pocket layer (40); and wherein at least one flexible electrical conductor (46) extending in the longitudinal direction (8) and floating at least in parts is provided between the first pocket layer (38) and the second pocket layer (40) in the thickness direction (13).