Kankaanpää Unit - Projects

Noiseshirt concept

Work done 2003-2004
Extent of work: Development of proof of concept shirt, Encasing of flexible electronics
Co-operation with Teknikum ltd, PuCast
Results: Working prototype of machine washable electronics
Contact: kankaanpaa@tut.fi

The TUT Kankaanpää Unit is strongly focused on the Wearables-infrastructure and has experience in manufacturing machine washable electronics by casting flexible circuit boards (FCB) in soft polymer.

The TUT KP1 set out to produce a functional prototype of a garment integrated electronic device implementing the research on flexible encasing and wireless recharging. We decided not to make the prototype an outerwear garment, as most current intelligent garment concepts tend to be outerwear due to their forgiving ability to carry bulky devices. Instead, we set out to build a concept of a shirt, which would be easier to demo and which would clearly show how well we succeeded in making a wearable electronics shirt with permanently integrated devices.

The flexible electronics are integrated in the shirt permanently with a polyurethane cast protecting the electronics from moisture and mechanical stress. The prototype shirt has been machine washed at 40°C and spin-dried at 900 rpm. With better casting techniques and materials the shape, thickness and mass can be optimized to create even less obtrusive wearable electronic modules.

For usability reasons we also wanted to avoid a need to plug in the shirt for recharging after use or care. After a little research inductive power transferring seemed the best option for recharging. The most sensible and simple interface for wirelessly recharging a shirt with wearable electronics is a clothes hanger. The hanger has a built in inductive recharging unit that recharges the battery unit that in on the shirt’s neck tab

Links and other info:

Publications

Iso-Ketola, P., Karinsalo, T., Myry, M., Hahto, L., Karhu, H., Malmivaara, M. & Vanhala, J. (2005) A mobile device as user interface for wearable applications. Pervasive Computing. Third International Conference, PERVASIVE 2005, Munich, Germany, May 2005. 3468. pp. 5-9
Malmivaara, M., Myry, M., Iso-Ketola, P., Karinsalo, T. & Vanhala, J. 2005 Wearable electronics maintenance project. In: Talvenmaa, P. (ed.). Ambience 05, International Scientific Conference, Intelligent Ambience and Well-Being, 19-20 September 2005, Tampere, Finland. p. 39.

Updated , Hokkanen Mirja