Clevertex - Grado Zero Espace Srl

Fig. 70 A prototype ElekTex ® keyboard sleeve for Microsoft’s Ultra-Portable computer [134]
The peripheral designs include ElekTex ® keyboards, which are either connected to the PC by a shortrange
wireless signal (the Bluetooth standard) or which use a universal serial bus (USB) port. The
touchpad provides an interface technology for development of dynamic and feature-rich peripherals
and can be used, for example, to enable typing on tablet PC cases, provide portable typing interfaces
for leading mobile devices and extend the usability of mobile PCs with media and data entry controls
[134].
Research is currently conducted by Konarka Technologies Inc. and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral
de Lausanne (EPFL), aiming at the development of photovoltaic fabrics, based on nanotechnology.
The production of a photovoltaic fibre, able to produce electric energy from the sunlight, has already
been demonstrated. The company Konarka is specialised in plastics that convert light to energy and
hence in the co-operation with the Swiss school they incorporated a light-activated power plastic into
nylon, so the nylon becomes photovoltaic. However, strength, thickness and electrical performance of
the fibre need to be optimised in textiles in order to use as reinforcement in concrete and masonry
[135].
Photonic Inc. is active in the field of buildings. They developed a system capable to characterise
different structural behaviours in real time. The system is textile integrated.
Appearance changing textiles, like luminescent textiles, also use at least partly electronics to get
functionalised. For the production of luminescent textile structures, researchers at the TITV Greiz used
a woven double comb structure with electrodes woven in on both sides. The whole structure is coated
with an electroluminescent printing paste, which is activated to light by high-frequency voltages [81,
82, 83, 84].
The German Gesellschaft für Intelligente Textile Produkte, ITP, is specialised in producing heating
fabrics. Their product line ranges from heating woven structures, over heating nonwoven structures to
heating knitted textile structures. Basically, they are using silvered coated Nylon fibres and silvered
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