The KlimaJack (Climate Jacket) research project, a collaboration between German clothing companies and universities under the lead of ITIV (Institute for Information Processing Technology) aims to create climate controlling wearable systems integrated into clothing.

Sensors integrated into the clothing’s fabric pick up vital body functions which are processed by miniaturized modules integrated in garments.

This research project which started two years ago and will be completed end of Feb 2011 will work out possible solutions for a wireless connection between the different modules.

The consortium wants to develop a technological platform for integration of electronic functions targeted to control and regulate cooling/heating into textiles.

Potential application areas are work wear for personnel exposed to extreme heat or clod environments like rescue workers, first respond teams, military but I could imagine also for some extreme sports wear.

Another interesting area will be the elderly population as the body temperature regulation is degrading with increasing age and these group of people could expect assistance from their clothing in keeping a save body climate even in the scorching summer sun or during chilly winter days.

An interesting project we will keep on monitoring and hope to see some results that can be moved into commercialization in not too distant future.

I am truly impressed from e-Pressed, a project made from smart textiles created by a group of smart people: Anja Hertenberger, Barbara Pais, Danielle Roberts.

The aim of the e-Pressed project is to communicate negative emotions such as grief, sadness, pain, fear or anger in a new way, a way to create awareness in the wearer and in others and possible interaction between people.

Bio sensors placed around the shirt pick up the level of stress or anxiety of the wearer and indicate this via embedded LEDs.

Fast blinking indicates a high level of irritation and once the ‘therapy’, the interaction with another person via acupuncture points on the shirt starts, the LEDs flashing frequency slows down in sync with the relaxation level of the wearer until the light goes off, indicating a balanced emotional stage.

The shirt itself is made of two layers, inside and outside layer with the buttons of the pressure areas and the LED’s placed between the inner and outer garment layer.

The galvanic skin response sensor is connected to the Arduino board. The wearer of the shirt has to connect two fingers of his/her left hand to the sensor.

Check out the richly documented and highly interesting project work from the e-Pressed team which is already working on the next version including more soft bio sensors to get higher accuracy on the stress/ anxiety level reading of the wearer.

[via: Fashioning Technology]

Garments that measure the heart rate have been on the market for some time. Made of intelligent textiles, those sensors stand out over other solutions with their excellent wearability, they are soft as textiles are.

Textile based sensors provide a much higher wearing comfort: everything you need to to is to put on a shirt. No need to wire yourself up with sensor patches, no need to hook yourself up to electrodes or straps. That’s a big comfort plus for anyone and any profession in need to watch out of the body performance and body conditions.

BIOTEX, a European sponsored research project which is set up to develop biochemical-sensing techniques and their integration into textiles adds a new dimension to bio-textile-sensor technology: analyzing body fluids via textile sensors.

One of the first textile fluid sensors could be a textile patch analyzing a tiny drop of sweat which can provide a much better assessment of someone’s health compared to a ‘heart rate only’ monitoring. As more data collected as more accurate the overall assessment will be.

The sweat sensor uses a combination of hydrophilic (water-loving) and hydrophobic (water-repellent) yarns. Those two yarns can be woven to direct the sweat through fabric channels to a sensor area. It is a passive system that uses no power and so reducing the power demands of the BIOTEX system.

Analyzing sweat can tell a lot about the stress level, the lack off essential elements in our body and our overall performance status. Think about making a long run, you need to refill your body with energy (drink) to stay on course or else ….

Another application of the BIOTEX textile sensor includes a pH detection which could be combined with a color changing (phase shifting) textile indicating visually on a shirt or patient gown if the body needs attention (before you drop to the ground in which case you won’t need any sensor to tell).

A hopefully not so distant future will bring us smart clothes embedded with numerous sensors which constantly monitor our vital signs. If your body reaches exhaustion levels the garment is programmed to send you a text message telling you to take it easy

[via: Gizmodo]