• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.419-426
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• 2008

In order to develop "textile electrode - sensing clothing" which is a sort of smart clothing to measure electric activities of heart, we propose possible ways to develop textile electrode and design of sensing clothing, ultimately aiming to develop "ECG sensing clothing for lifestyle monitoring". Conventional sensors for measuring typical electric activities of heart keep certain distance between measuring electrodes to measure signals for electric activities of heart, but these sensors often cause inappropriate factors (e.g. motional artifacts, inconvenience of use, etc) for monitoring natural cardiac activities in our daily life. In addition, most of textile electrodes have made it difficult to collect data due to high impedance and unstable contact between skin and electrodes. To overcome these questions, we minimized distance between electrodes and skin to maximize convenience of use. And in order to complement contact between skin electrodes, we modified textile electrode's form and developed ways to design clothing. As a result, we could find out clinical significance by investigating possible associations of clinical electrocardiogram (ECG) with variation of distance between electrodes, and could also demonstrate clinically significant associations between textile electrode developed herein and clothing.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.109-124
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• 2024

The aim of this paper is to design and evaluate calf braces that are equipped with Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) modules. These braces are intended to alleviate calf pain in PARA Taekwondo athletes. The paper also seeks to assess the effects of different textile electrode designs. PARA Taekwondo participants are at a heightened risk of injuries and pain due to the nature of this exercise, which is designed for individuals with disabilities. Additionally, there is a significant risk of strain on the lower limb muscles in PARA Taekwondo compared to regular Taekwondo. To address this issue, calf taping methods are commonly used. In this study, we develop calf EMS protective gear and aim to examine the effects of different textile electrode designs inspired by taping methods. We evaluate the differences in the effects of three different textile electrode designs through visual analog scale (VAS) and range of motion (ROM) measurements. The results show that EMS protective gear has the potential to reduce calf pain among PARA Taekwondo athletes, with electrode designs inspired by kinesiology taping providing the most effective pain relief. This research suggests that these findings may be applicable to other sports disciplines, body areas, and everyday pain relief scenarios.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.168-179
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• 2021

This study presents and develops a textile type touch sensor structural design that is easy to implement. First, the design of the touch sensor circuit finds the size of the switch with the easiest finger contact and selects a structure with a long circuit with the lowest resistance value. An experiment is performed on a change in an electrostatic capacitance value that accompanies the distance on the electrode and the magnitude of the electrode area of the structure; however, the structure having the distance on the electrode and the large electrode area shows the best resistance change. The laundry assessment was conducted three times at a time and ten times at a time with an average standard deviation less than one ohm, with little change in resistance. Consequently, there were no problems with durability and performance for laundry. Finally, in the bending evaluation, the difference in resistance can be seen between 1-2 ohms and was developed as a smart wearable in the future; in addition, there was no problem as a difference in resistance can be seen between 1 and 2 ohms.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.427-440
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• 2020

This study developed a vest prototype capable of monitoring body temperature using textile electrodes to prevent the sudden death of babies as well as to determine the quality of developed products by evaluating usability with commercial products. Based on the results of the 7th Size Korea Project, a basic pattern for a vest prototype was drafted by applying the average size of two-year-old Korean babies. Two prototypes were the detachable (VEST I) and integrated textile electrodes vest type (VEST II), which followed the same design. The materials were 100% cotton single jersey (SJ) and double jersey (DJ). Six experts evaluated the usability of the developed vests (VEST I & VEST II) and commercial product (VEST M). The single-layer woven textile electrode appeared to have a slightly higher conductivity than the double-layer one. There was no statistical difference in the body temperature sensing function between VEST I and VEST II. Finally, the superiority of the VEST I was verified through a comparison with commercial products (VEST M). The usability test suggested that a wearable smart clothing system of the integrated conductive textile could be further commercialized for bio-monitor applications in Ubiquitous-health care.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.94-107
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• 2024

This study developed compression pants with excellent wearability and signal quality by approaching the design of wireless sEMG monitoring pants from the perspective of technical design, including the evaluation of wearability and the stable wireless transmission of signals through electrode and circuit design, and using e-textiles. An electrode, sewn with silver thread and a circuit stitched in a zigzag pattern using stainless steel wire, were applied. Additionally, polyurethane sealing tape was used to enhance adherence to the skin and reduce electrical resistance. Conductive snaps completed the design, allowing attachment and detachment to the bio-signal acquisition mainboard. Through the subjects' evaluation, it was determined that the final pants were applied with a pattern reduction rate of 25% to provide superior comfort according to different body parts while also minimizing skin irritation around the thigh circuit. The final pants for wireless sEMG monitoring, which demonstrated stable transmission of wireless measurements, was positively evaluated in terms of cognitive acceptability. This study is significant in that it achieved an optimal design by considering both technical aspects and the electrical characteristics of bio-signal monitoring garments, as well as the wearer's perception when designing smart wear.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2010

오늘날 인간의 수명이 연장되고, 웰빙과 건강에 대한 관심이 증가됨에 따라서 언제 어디서나 건강을 모니터링 할 수 있는 건강 스마트 의류 시스템이 개발되고 있다. 이를 위하여 최근에는 생체신호의 모니터링이 가능하도록 디자인된 의류에 통합된 형태의 직물 전극이 개발되고 있다. 혁신적으로 의류 시스템에 통합되어 착용 가능한 니트, 우븐, 자수방식의 텍스타일 전극에 대한 다양한 연구가 개발 제시되고 있으며, 이의 일부는 상용화되어 있다. 이에 본 연구는 경위사의 일정한 직조제어 자동화 시스템이 가능한 컴퓨터 자카드 직기의 캐드(CAD) 직조디자인 방식을 통하여 생체신호 센싱 기능이 향상된 새로운 텍스타일 전극디자인을 연구하고자 하였다. 이를 위하여 본 연구에서는 기존 생체신호 센싱 전극의 개발 및 연구 동향, 비직물/전극 타입에 대한 단점과 장점에 대한 비교 분석을 이론적으로 살펴보고, 자카드 직조 직물 기반으로 심전도 센싱용 텍스타일 전극을 디자인하여 실험 연구하였다. 자카드 직조 방식의 심전도 센싱용 직물 전극은 전극 인터페이스 디자인 방식, 이중직물형 직조 디자인 방식, 사가공 등의 요인들을 고려하여 개발하였다. 본 연구에서 도출된 최종 자카드 직조 직물 기반의 텍스타일 전극은 스마트 의류에 통합시킨 텍스타일 전극 모듈로서 적용되여 향후 상용화 방안을 모색할 수 있다.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.844-853
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• 2015

Recently, according to change of lifestyle and increase of concerning in health, needs of the smart clothing based on the vital sign monitoring have increased. Along with this trend, smart clothing for ECG monitoring has been studied various way as textile electrode, clothing design and so on. Smart clothing for ECG monitoring can become a comfortable system which enables continuous vital sign monitoring in daily use. But, smart clothing for ECG monitoring has a weakness on artifact during motion. One of the motion artifact caused by shifting of the electrode position was affected skin change by motion. The aim of this study was to suggest electrode locations for clothing of ECG monitoring to reduce of motion artifacts. Therefore, change of skin surface during the movement were measured and analyzed in order to find location to minimize motion artifacts in ECG monitoring clothing by 3D motion capture. For the experiment, the subjects consisted of 5 males and 5 females in their 20' with average physique. As a result, the optimal location for ECG monitoring was deducted under the bust line and scapula which have least motion artifact. These locations were abstracted to be least affected by movement in this research.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.460-460
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• 2014

Organic photovoltaic cells (OPV) have been extensively studied due to their unique properties such as flexibility, light-weight, easy processability, cost-effectiveness, and being environmental friendly. These advantages make them an attractive candidate for application in various novel fields and promising development with new features. Photovoltaic cell-integrated textiles have greatly attractive features as a power source for the smart textile solutions, and OPV is most ideal form factor due to advantage of flexibility. In this study, we develop a textile-based OPV through various experimental methods and we suggest the direction for the design of the photovoltaic textile. We used a textile electrode and tried to various layouts for textile-based OPV. Finally, we determined the contact area by using Hertzian theory for the calculation of power conversion efficiency (PCE). Based on the results of calculation, the short circuit current density, Isc, was $13.11mA/cm^2$ under AM 1.5condition and the PCE was around 2.5%.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.41-50
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• 2023

This study aims to develop electromyography (EMG) textile electrodes and assess their performance and signal stability by examining variations in layer count and fabric types. We fabricated the electrodes through layering and pressing techniques, focusing on configurations with different layer counts (Layer-0, Layer-1, and Layer-2). Our findings indicate that layer presence significantly influences muscle activation measurements, with enhanced performance correlated with increased layer numbers. Subsequently, we created electrodes from five distinct fabrics (neoprene, spandex cushion, 100% polyester, nylon spandex, and cotton canvas), each maintaining a Layer-2 structure. In performance tests, nylon spandex fabric, particularly heavier variants, outperformed others, while the spandex cushion electrodes showed superior stability in muscle activation signal acquisition. This research elucidates the connection between electrode performance and factors like layer number and electrode-skin contact area. It suggests a novel approach to electrode design, focusing on layer properties and targeted pressure application on specific sensor areas, rather than uniformly increasing sleeve pressure.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.66 no.7
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• pp.1141-1148
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• 2017

Generally, a thermistor made by sintering a metal oxide is widely used to measure the ambient temperature. This thermistor is widely used not only for industrial use but also for medical use because of its excellent sensitivity, durability, temperature change characteristics and low cost. In particular, the normal body temperature is 36.9 degrees relative to the armpit temperature, and it is most closely related to the circulating blood flow. Previous studies have shown that body temperature changes during biomechanical changes and body temperature changes by anomalous signs or illnesses. Therefore, in this study, we propose a Lock-In-Amp design to detect minute temperature changes of clothing and thermistor wired by a preacher as a method to regularly measure body temperature in daily life. Especially, it is designed to measure the minute resistance change of the thermistor according to body temperature change even in a low-cost microprocessor environment by using a micro-processor-based Lock-In-Amp, and a jacquard and the thermistor is arranged so as to be close to the side, so that the reference body temperature can be easily measured. The temperature was measured and stored in real time using short-range wireless communication for non - restraint temperature monitoring. A baby vest was made to verify its performance through temperature experiments for infants. The measurement of infant body temperature through the existing skin sensor or thermometer has limitations in monitoring infant body temperature for a long time without restriction. However, it can be overcome by using the embroidery fabric based micro temperature monitoring wireless monitoring device proposed in this study.