IPC E-Textiles 2021 Virtual World Tour

Agenda | Taipei, Taiwan
Date: Thursday, September 2, 2021
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During the first stop on our tour, subject matter experts from the renowned Taiwan Textiles Research Institute (TTRI) will provide an interactive view into the many leading studies they are doing for the wearables market. Demonstrations will include testing from their Sports Experience Lab, including wash durability for sensors and the sweating manikin test.

On either side of these demonstrations, participants will learn about gait analysis and laundering reliability of wearables.

Opening and Introduction 
15:00-15:05    Robert Jou, Vice President, TTRI

Paper Presentation-1
15:05-15:25    Kinesiology and Sensor-based Textiles Researches in Sports and Movement Science
Speaker: W. C. Hsu, Associate Dean of College of Applied Science, Professor of Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), Adjunct Professor of Institute of Athletic Performance, National Taiwan Normal University.
15:25-15:35    Q&A
15:35-16:05    About Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) and Virtual Laboratory Tour

Sports Experience Lab 

• Human Body Composition Analysis
• Pressure Test 
• Electromyology and Muscle Oscillation Measurement 
• Temperature and Humidity Detection
• Cardiopulmonary Test 
• Motion Analysis
• Blood Lactate Test
• Muscle Soreness Test

Presented by: Liz Wu, Vice Researcher, Department of Testing and Certifiction, Taiwan Textile Research Intitute (TTRI)

Evaluation of Smart Sportswear on Sensor Function and Durability to Wash

• The Technology of Physiological Evaluation for Smart Sportswear
• Test Procedure for Home Laundering (AATCC Test Method 135)

Presented by: Sirens Ciou, Deputy Section Chief, Department of Testing and Certification, Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI)
     
Comfort Evaluation Lab

• Sweating Thermal Manikin (ASTM F1291, ASTM F2370, ASTM F2371, ISO 15831, EN342, EN 14058, and EN13537 for sleeping bag)
• Human Wear Trial with a Climate Chamber or in Field
• Sweating Torso (ISO 18640-1 and the upgrade software of THS- Thermo-physiological Human Simulator of ISO 18640-2) 

Presented by: Li-Chu Wang, Researcher, Department of Testing and Certification, Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI)
16:05-16:20    Q&A

Paper Presentation-2
16:20-16:40    Laundering Reliability of Electrically Conductive Fabrics for E-Textile Applications
Speaker: Jeffrey Lee, Assistant Vice President, Global Engineering Development Division, iST-Integrated Service Technology
16:40-16:50    Q&A

Agenda | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S.
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Times: Philadelphia – 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM Eastern (US) 

Soft Systems Design Kit – Creating Tools to Facilitate E-Textiles Development
On this second stop of the tour, researchers from the Pennsylvania Fabric Discovery Center (PA FDC) will present the development of a soft system design kit (SSDK) to prototype textile-based circuits. This work describes the creation of computational tools and methods to expedite the production of textile electronics. This work also presents case studies in creating functional fabric devices, such as the design and simulation of reconfigurable textile antennas and fabric-based capacitive touch sensors. Additionally, frameworks to communicate textile-based electrics designs are discussed.

Agenda (all times EDT US)
9:00 AM to 9:30 AM: Introduction and Virtual Tour of the PA FDC
Geneviève Dion, MID, Director – Pennsylvania Fabric Discovery Center
Leighton Cline, MS, Testing and Fabrication Engineer – PA FDC
The PA FDC’s mission is to advance the design and manufacturing of integrated textile systems with new materials, new tools, new fabrication processes and new products that transform the way we work, live and interact with the world. The PA FDC translates innovative textile concepts from prototype to scalable advanced manufacturing through yarn customization, fabrication (flat and circular weft knitting, warp knitting and weaving), systems integration and testing.  

As part of this mission, the PA FDC will present here the soft systems design Kit (SSDK). The SSDK aims to adapt the process development kit (PDK) concept from the semiconductor industry into a textiles context. This kit consists of design guidance, process information, and tooling for simulation and evaluation. Taken together, these tools will enable textile designers and engineers to create robust, scalable and manufacturable electronic textiles while reducing the time, costs and risks associated with iterative approaches to R&D.

9:30 AM to 9:50 AM: Modeling and Simulation of Electronic Textiles
Richard Vallett, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher – PA FDC
Leighton Cline
The ubiquity of textiles, combined with their soft and flexible nature, makes them an appealing medium for flexible electronics. The dynamic properties of textile structures pose challenges to conventional methods of electronics modeling and design. The PA FDC presents the SSDK as a first step towards the development of a framework to describe complex fabric circuits and to simulate the dynamic electrical behavior of textile-based devices. They will present the development of a reconfigurable textile antenna and a fabric-based capacitive touch sensor as use cases of the SSDK.

9:50 AM to 10:15 AM: Testing and Standardization to Accelerate E-Textile Development
Leighton Cline
Richard Vallett
Designers and engineers need the ability to create textile devices without extensive trial-and-error prototyping. Tools and methods to reliably analyze and validate yarns and fabrics are crucial to developing e-textiles that are manufacturable at scale. However, the characterization data historically collected and reported in the textile industry is not aimed at these functional fabric devices. This mismatch creates difficulties in engineering and barriers to communication in interdisciplinary teams. The PA FDC will present here a case for improved standardization in the e-textiles space, as well as a schema to communicate e-textile designs for fabrication.

10:15 AM to 11:00 AM: Open Forum on Challenges in E-Textiles Development
Geneviève Dion
Leighton Cline
Richard Vallett
The SSDK aims to address the open challenges in e-textiles development. As such, this portion of the session will focus on welcoming feedback on this toolkit from the people working in the industry developing and utilizing e-textiles. Please join us for an open forum discussing the barriers to e-textile development and share your thoughts on this emerging technology. 

Agenda | Berlin, German
Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Times: Berlin – 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Central European Time 

During this stop on the tour leading technologists from Fraunhofer IZM will provide presentations and discussions on recent work out of their university as well as a virtual tour of their TexLab. In addition to the technical presentations, demonstrations and Q&As with speakers, Christian Dalsgaard, head of Smart Textile Alliance, will provide an industry keynote.

Stay tuned to this page for additional details about this stop on the tour.

Part 1: Introduction and Market Situation
13:00-13:15    Introduction to IZM / TexLab

• Virtual lab tour
• Introduction to IZM staff

13:15-13:30    E-Textiles Market Overview

• Product classes
• Applications

13:30-13:50    Industry Keynote by Christian Dalsgaard
15-minute break

Part 2: E-Textiles Technologies at Fraunhofer IZM
All topics will include Q&A time with presenters
14:05-14:10     Short introduction and opening statements
14:10-14:35     Substrate-Level Flexible and Textile-Integrated Circuits
14:35-15:00    Embedding
15:00-15:25    Interconnections and Integration
15:25-15:50    Reliability for E-Textiles
15:50-16:00    Products, Collaborations and Application Examples

Agenda | Tokyo, Japan
Date: December 1
Times: Japan – 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM Japan Standard Time

This stop on the tour will provide insights into recent developments with e-textiles technologies for wearable applications in Japan. Topics to be discussed will include:

• Flexible waveguide wired communication technology that enables high-speed, large-capacity communication  by converting electrical signals into millimeter-wave radio waves for communication
• Conductive threads and RFID tags for wearable applications
• Stretchable conductive film for wearables for measuring biological information such as ECG, EMG, and respiration

Biography coming soon.

Leighton’s background is rooted in materials science, inventing and engineering prototyping. Prior to joining the Pennsylvania Fabric Discovery Center (PA FDC), he performed research in nanomaterials and defect engineering for conductive polymers, as well as providing invention and prototyping services to industry clients including Fortune 500 companies. His professional focus is furthering sustainability through developing functional materials and improving processes. As a senior testing technician, he works to perform characterization and failure analysis on the Center’s textiles and yarns, in addition to designing and building hardware for micro-scale textile production and testing.

Christian Dils studied Microsystems Technology at the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Berlin and graduated in 2005. He worked at International Fashion Machines, Seattle, a pioneering company for electronic textiles and at the TZI - Center for Computer and Communication Technologies in Bremen. In 2007 Dils moved to the Systems on Flex group at Fraunhofer IZM as a researcher and project manager for national and international collaborations. His research focuses on the development of stretchable and textile-integrated electronics, particularly with regard to connection and manufacturing technologies.

Wei-Chun Hsu holds a B.S. degree in physical therapy in 1998 from the National Taiwan University, an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Paris XII University, France, , and a Ph.D. degree in biomechanical engineering from the National Taiwan University. After several years working as a physical therapist in Shin-Kong hospital and one year working as post-doctoral Research Fellow at National Taiwan University, Hsu joined the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology where she is now a Professor at Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Her research interests include motion analysis, rehabilitation engineering, sports science, motor control and learning, and biomechanics. She is currently the Associate Editor of Sports Biomechanics (Impact factor: 2.832), the official journal of International Society of Sports Biomechanics, the Associate Editor of Chinese Sports Biomechanics, and Supervisor of Taiwan Society of Biomechanics in Sports.

Mr. Robert Jou has worked at Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) for more than 32 years. He specializes in yarn spinning technology, functional textiles testing and clothing comfort evaluation. He introduced several world-class advanced functional textiles testing facilities such as Sweating Torso from EMPA, Switzerland, Sweating Manikins, PPE and microbiological testing equipment into TTRI. Jou initiated a bilateral and multi-lateral international cooperation, and engaged Taiwan enterprise to participate in a 4 year European Horizon 2020 E-Textiles project. In addition, Jou launched a 3-year research program with Czech Republic partner, VUTS, on a high distance fabric machine development. This state-of-the- art technology has facilitated TTRI and VUTS to be awarded an unprecedented R&D 100 in Dec. 2019.

Jeffrey ChangBing Lee received his M.S. degree from the Applied Chemistry Department, Taiwan Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1991, and the EMBA degree from Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, in 2009.

A Researcher with ITRI, Taipei, Taiwan, Lee worked on advanced polymer composite in Taiwan from 1993 to 1997, a Power MOSFET Packaging Research and Development Process Engineer with Siliconix Vishay, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from 1998 to 1999, and a Green Program Manager with ASE Corp RD, Kaohsiung, from 1999 to 2006. He is currently an Assistant Vice-President with iST-Integrated Service Technology Inc., Hsinchu, Taiwan. His main works are to develop global open collaboration engineering projects for semiconductor and information communication technology (ICT)-related certification technology with branding customer and industry alliance. Lee has authored more than 100 technical articles about IC package, PCB assembly, and PCB technology on material, process, and reliability study in international electronic conferences and journals, and holds four patents. Currently, he is focusing more on ICT-related industry standard development with global alliance and standard committee, as well as e-textile development and advanced IC package.

Lee was a recipient of the Best Paper Award of SMTA China in 2010. He was awarded the IPC Distinguished Committee Member for IPC-9709 in 2014 and IPC-8921 in 2020 by the IPC Standard Committee. He is also a Board Member of IMAPS Taiwan, and a member of IPC, JEDEC Standard Committee, the SMTAI Technical Committee, the TPCA Technical Committee, and the 001 CSE of IPC.

Thomas Loeher studied physics, receiving  a PhD in physical chemistry before joining Fraunhofer IZM and TU Berlin in 2002. He has been involved in a number of development projects with respect to embedding of electronic components into build-up layers of printed circuit boards. Since 2006 he has been active in the field of stretchable electronics, which led to application in textiles (2010) and then thermoformable electronics (2012). Besides working on publicly funded projects in the field, Loeher was active in process transfer of  technology to industry and many prototyping requests from industrial customers.

Following a pre-degree in physical engineering from TU Berlin and some years of freelance work in fashion and costume design, Sigrid Rotzler obtained her master’s degree in garment technology from the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Berlin in 2019, focusing on textile testing, the laundry process and e-textiles. During her studies, she was part of the interdisciplinary research project Kooperation Wäschepflege. As part of the project, she worked at BSH Hausgeräte GmbHs Technologiezentrum Wäschepflege for an internship and her Bachelors thesis on testing procedures for non-standard washing programs. Rotzler’s master’s thesis was written in collaboration with Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM. Since finishing her degree, she works as a researcher developing e-textiles in the group System on Flex of the IZM and at the Forschungsschwerpunkt Technologien der Mikroperipherik of the TU Berlin. For her PhD at the TU Berlin, she is researching how the washability of e-textiles can be improved.

David Scheutze holds degrees in software engineering, microelectronics and an MA in electrical engineering (2016). He joined Fraunhofer IZM in 2008 and has since developed process technologies for embedding of electronic components into increasingly complex modules. Schuetze  specialized in the integration of sensors with and without media access and wireless data exchange methodologies.

Richard Vallett received his doctoral degree from Drexel University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, advised by both Music Entertainment Technology Lab (MET-lab) and CFF. He also received his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering at Drexel. Vallett served as a teaching assistant in the Mechanical Engineering department, courses included statics, dynamics, basic fluid mechanics, control systems, product design and development, and freshman engineering design lab. He also advised many undergraduate student groups on various mechanical and electrical design projects. Vallett’s primary research interests include robotics, control systems, dynamics, microcontrollers and smart textile fabrication.

Ms. Li-Chu Wang is a researcher and sub-project director of Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI). TTRI provides R&D services in the areas of textile technology, product development, industrial information, and testing & certification. Wang has been engaged in textile technology at the TTRI for 31 years, engaged in the testing and evaluation of functional textiles, especially focused on clothing comfort evaluation and moisture management textile evaluation system and methods. A recipient of more than 9 patents, 6 Industrial Specified Requirements, and 2 National CNS standards, Wang has published more than 78 journal and conference publications. She has been engaged in international cooperative research projects with EMPA in Switzerland), TNO in The Netherlands,  and ETexWeld Project of Horizon2020among others. Wang is a graduate of  Fu Jen Catholic University, Business & Consumer Studies of Textile & Fashion, Textiles and Clothing Graduate Institute.

Vice Researcher, Department of Testing and Certifiction, Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI)

Malte von Krshiwoblozki is an R&D engineer and group leader of “System on Flex“at Fraunhofer IZM in Berlin, Germany, where he is responsible for E-Textiles. Krshiwoblozki's primary expertise and interest is in e-textiles, and stretchable and flexible electronics. He holds a degree in microsystem technologies and was a participant in several large EU and national interdisciplinary research projects where he gained deep knowledge of emerging technologies for future markets. His research is concentrated on interconnection technologies to merge electronics and textiles, as they are important enablers to move wearable e-textiles from lab prototypes to volume production and the mainstream market.

Genevieve Dion directs the Center for Functional Fabrics and the Pennsylvania Fabric Discovery Center at Drexel University. She is a Professor of Design at the Westphal College of Media Arts and Design and an affiliate faculty in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering.  Her research, at the intersection of design and science, explores advanced manufacturing of functional fabrics. Under her leadership, transdisciplinary teams investigate modular production and mass customization of 3D knit fabrication for the development of complex interconnected systems: fabrics that emit, transmit and communicate.  Her research has received funding from Industry, NSF, NIH, Keck Futures, AFFOA and the US Army ManTech Program. Dion has co-authored more than forty papers and conference proceedings. She also has been granted five patents and ten more are currently under review. Dion obtained a B.A. in Industrial Design from San Francisco State University and a master’s degree in the same subject from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Christian Dalsgaard is head of the Smart Textile Alliance, a not-for-profit corporation founded to advance e-textile technology through the development of industry standards and support to cross-sector collaborations. Christian is a leader and entrepreneur with considerable expertise in the field of commercializing smart textile development. He founded the company Ohmatex in 2004 and his knowledge spans over a decade from the early stages of R&D of materials and textile integrated wearables into the latest development for the European Space Agency ESA.