Smart textile survival kit to be unveiled

Dan Rogers - 26 May 2010

Smart textile technologies for survival and rescue are set to appear at a Swedish research project exhibition in June 2010.

The Integrity project will unveil smart textile demonstrators fitting three different concepts at the Borås Textile Museum on 5 June.

The research at the University of Borås has been ongoing for four years, and product development began in March this year.

The project is divided into three themed groups: Culture, Creature and Nature. Creature, based on survival in harsh conditions such as extreme cold - for instance, in the North Pole - has created a survival kit for traversing and inhabiting an arctic landscape. This includes temperature monitors in clothing and electronics to heat garments, with power generated by flexible solar cells.

Anna Madella, master student designer on the Integrity project, explains: 'The concepts can be used for adventures, though there are other potential developments for social situations, like disaster response or for the homeless.

'Conductive silver yarns are knitted into the clothing, and a small sensor is integrated into the vest. This measures the temperature outside and of the body, and when it drops under a defined limit a rechargeable, integrated battery provides power to the conductive fibres and delivers heat.'

Survival kit

The designs consist of a range of items, including a sledge, an inflatable tent, a tube that can be erected around the user to provide immediate protection from storms, and the smart textile garment.

Flexible solar panels are also being used to recharge the battery in the garments, and these can be attached to the sledge or the tent to harvest energy.

The concepts will be exhibited at the Textile Museum to companies in the outdoor wear and accessories market, in a bid to establish commercial ties for future development says Madella.

She comments: 'Most of these products are at the prototype stage, but they present ideas for possible products. We want to create a product that could be used in real conditions.

'We are inviting companies from the outdoor wear areas to the exhibition and to a later exhibition in Stockholm.'

The three themes of Integrity correspond to the situations in which the designers needed to find new smart textile concepts: a built-up urban setting, a harsher natural setting, and somewhere between the two. The project was divided into three groups, and created intelligent textile products to provide 'integrity' within these settings.

Culture and Nature

The Nature group focused on shanty towns, and created a range of high-performance textiles for medical purposes and water purification; culture designed inflatable textiles that allow the wearer to cushion themselves when leaning or sitting, as well as blending into their surroundings.

Culture also makes use of integrated electronics in its textile designs: the prototypes include a sound sensor that lights up in response to someone talking, or the sound of footsteps, for instance.

The research, which is being funded by the Smart Textile Association of Sweden, will continue working on the concepts after the exhibition.

Madella says: 'We will continue working on the connection between the solar panels and the battery. We will also test the products during the summer.'

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