A finger-mounted electronic device may include a body that serves as a support structure for components such as force sensors, accelerometers, and other sensors and for haptic output devices. The body may have first and second side body members that leave the finger pad exposed and an upper body member extending between the first and second side body members. Some or all of the body may be covered in fabric or leather. Fabric may wrap around the first and second side body members and may extend across the upper body member. The fabric may cover electronic components. A touch sensor may have electrodes that are formed from conductive material on the fabric or conductive strands in the fabric. Infrared-reflective ink may form visual markers on the fabric for an infrared tracking system. The fabric may have light-transmissive portions that overlap optical components.

A machine knittable hybrid yarn for providing conductive traces through a textile is disclosed. The hybrid yarn includes conductive wires coated with an insulating material and twisted together with a nonconductive yarn. The nonconductive yarn is from a strong, inelastic, and nonconductive fiber, such as a meta-aramid or para-aramid that protects the integrity of the conductive wire during knitting. The conductive wire can be copper-clad stainless steel or copper wire is coated with polyurethane, and the nonconductive yarn can have no-drip and no-drip properties to allow ablation of the hybrid yarn to remove the conductive yarn and insulating coating on the wire such that the ablated region becomes externally conductive and suitable for making an electrical contact. The hybrid yarn can be bonded with nylon or similar polymer after twisting.

At a sensor electrode of a steering wheel, a protruding portion protrudes from a main body portion. A first thread and a second thread each extend in the protruding portion and effect conduction between a terminal at the protruding portion and a main body portion. Therefore, even if there is no conduction between the first thread and the second thread at intersection portions between the first thread and second thread in the protruding portion, the first thread and the second thread may each effect conduction between the terminal and the main body portion, and a degradation of conduction performance of the sensor electrode may be suppressed.

An antimicrobial fabric formed of fibers containing nano-sized particles of zinc on a surface of the fibers. Various articles made from the fabric are also disclosed.

The invention relates to a fuel cell (2) comprising at least one membrane/electrode unit (10) comprising a first electrode (21) and a second electrode (22), which electrodes are separated from one another by a membrane (18), and comprising at least one bipolar plate (40) which comprises a first distribution region (50) for distributing a fuel to the first electrode (21) and a second distribution region (60) for distributing an oxidation agent to the second electrode (22). A distribution unit (30) is provided in at least one of the distribution regions (50, 60) and has at least one flat woven fabric (80), wherein the flat woven fabric (80) is deformed in such a way that raised portions (32) of the woven fabric (80) touch one of the electrodes (21, 22).

One manner of producing more desirable clothing with electronic capabilities is to manufacture electronics, such as the charging wires or devices themselves, directly onto the textile materials. Textile materials generally do not support the manufacturing of electronic devices, in part because the surface of the textile is too rough for electronic devices or the processes used to manufacture electronic devices. An intermediate layer may be placed on the textile material to reduce the roughness of the surface of the textile material and provide other beneficial characteristics for the placement of electronic devices directly on the textile material.

A smart fabric may include a smart material such as an Electroactive Polymer (EAP). An adaptive garment formed from the smart fabric may change textile density based on user needs, sensor states, context, and other inputs. In various embodiments, the EAP enables the adaptive garment to change textile density based on a sport or activity, based on calendar or scheduled events, or based on user preferences. In various embodiments, these smart fabrics may be implemented in sporting garments, uniforms, multiple-day clothing (e.g., for travel or military usage), furniture fabric, curtains, or other implementations.

A conductive assembly (10) includes a conductive fabric core (12) which includes at least one electrically conductive element woven with the fabric core, optionally first and second impermeable layers (14, 16) enveloping the fabric core (12), first and second spacer layers (18, 20) overlying or within the impermeable layers (14, 16) and first and second conductive shield or screen layers (22, 24) overlying the spacer layers. The shield layers are electrically coupled together in the preferred embodiment for electromagnetic shielding. The spacer layers (18, 20) provide a stable and uniform spacing between the shield or screen conductors (22, 24) and the conductive fabric core (12).

Presented herein are active textile structures with selectively variable surface friction characteristics, methods for making/using such structures, and vehicle components fabricated with electronically controlled textile structures with modifiable surface friction characteristics. An active textile system for governing frictional force levels at an interface with a user or object is presented. The system includes a textile structure that is fabricated from interlaced first and second textile filaments. Each textile filament has a respective texture that exhibits a distinct coefficient of friction. The textile structure has an outer and/or upper contact surface at the interface with the user/object. An actuating element, which is connected to the textile structure, is operable to selectively transition the textile structure between first and second states. The first state includes the first textile filament defining the textile structure's outer contact surface, whereas the second state includes the second textile filament defining the outer contact surface.

A system provides ultra-wideband (UWB) positioning. The system exchanges ranging signals at a first rate between a UWB beacon and a UWB tag. The system then determines movement or location information of the UWB tag; and select, based on the movement or location information, a second rate for exchanging subsequent ranging signals between the UWB beacon and the UWB tag. The system then exchanges the subsequent ranging signals at the second rate between the UWB beacon and the UWB tag.