ELECTRONIC TEXTILE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN ELECTRONIC TEXTILE

• US 20130176737A1
• Filed: 09/06/2011
• Published: 07/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Philips Lighting BV (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Zhou, Guofu, Van Abeelen, Frank Anton, Van Pieterson, Liesbeth, Rademakers, Johannes Andrianus Maria, Snoeijen, Petrus Antonius Henricus, Bax, Josephus Henricus Gerardus
• Granted Patent: US 9,148,949 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/249.06
• CPC Class Codes: F21K 9/20 Light sources comprising attachment means
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 21/00 Supporting, suspending, or attaching arrangements for lighting devices F21V17/00, F21V19/00 take precedence; arrangement of signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor, for vehicles in general B60Q, stands for supporting apparatus or articles in general F16M11/00; Hand grips
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0277 Bendability or stretchability details H05K1/038, H05K3/4691 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0283 Stretchable printed circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/038 Textiles used as reinforcing materials for organic insulating substrates H05K1/0366
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/111 Pads for surface mounting, e.g. lay-out
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/181 associated with surface mounted components
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/189 characterised by the use of a flexible or folded printed circuit H05K3/326 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/0281 Conductive fibers
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/029 Woven fibrous reinforcement or textile textile substrates H05K1/038
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10106 Light emitting diode [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2203/0152 Temporary metallic carrier, e.g. for transferring material affixing a prefabricated conductor pattern formed by electroplating or electroforming on a metallic carrier H05K3/205
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/303 Surface mounted components, e.g. affixing before soldering, aligning means, spacing means H05K3/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 3/321 by conductive adhesives
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4913 Assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc.

Abstract

A method of manufacturing an electronic textile (1) comprising the steps of: providing a textile carrier (2) comprising a plurality of conductor lines (6a-b); releasably attaching (101) the textile carrier (2) to a rigid support plate (20); providing (102) a conductive substance on the textile carrier (2) in a pattern forming a plurality of sets of connection pads (5a-b) on the textile carrier (2), each set of connection pads defining a component placement position for placement of an electronic component (3), and each set of connection pads (5a-b) comprising a connection pad overlapping one of the conductor lines, the connection pad having a connection pad length (L_cp) in a direction parallel to the conductor line and a connection pad width (W_cp) in a direction perpendicular to the conductor line, wherein the connection pad width (W_cp) is at least one percent of an extension (W_tc) of the textile carrier (2) in the direction perpendicular to the conductor line; automatically placing (103) electronic components (3) at the component placement positions; curing (104) the conductive substance to attach the electronic components (3) to the textile carrier (2), thereby forming the electronic textile (1) and removing (105) the electronic textile from the rigid support plate.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an electronic textile comprising the steps of:

providing a textile carrier comprising a plurality of conductor lines (6a-b);

releasably attaching said textile carrier to a rigid support plate;

providing a conductive substance on said textile carrier in a pattern forming a plurality of sets of connection pads (5a-b) on said textile carrier, each set of connection pads defining a component placement position for placement of an electronic component, and each set of connection pads (5a-b) comprising a connection pad overlapping one of said conductor lines, said connection pad having a connection pad length (L_cp) in a direction parallel to said conductor line and a connection pad width (W_cp) in a direction perpendicular to said conductor line, wherein said connection pad width (W_cp) is at least one percent of an extension (W_tc) of said textile carrier in said direction perpendicular to the conductor line;

automatically placing electronic components at said component placement positions;

curing said conductive substance to attach said electronic components to said textile carrier, thereby forming said electronic textile; and

removing said electronic textile from said rigid support plate.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of said electronic components has at least a first component pad (8a) having a component pad length (l) in a direction parallel to said conductor line (6a) and a component pad width (w) in a direction perpendicular to said conductor line (6a), and said connection pad width (W_cp) is at least equal to said component pad width (w) of the component pad (8a) to be connected to said connection pad (5a).

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said conductive substance is provided such that said connection pad length (L_cp) becomes at least equal to said component pad length (l).

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said rigid support plate is provided with reference markers (22a-d;

23a-d) for guiding placement of said textile carrier and for allowing alignment of the automatic placement equipment.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of releasably attaching comprises the steps of:

tensioning said textile carrier; and

pressing said textile carrier against an adhesive layer provided on said rigid support plate.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said rigid support plate comprises mutually spaced apart support plate apertures (31a-d), and wherein said step of releasably attaching comprises the steps of:

providing a rigid alignment arrangement comprising an alignment plate and mutually spaced apart alignment pins (27a-d) extending substantially perpendicularly from said alignment plate, said alignment pins being arranged to correspond to an arrangement of the support plate apertures (31a-d) of said rigid support plate;

tensioning said textile carrier and arranging said textile carrier on said rigid alignment plate such that said alignment pins penetrate said textile carrier;

aligning said rigid support plate to said alignment pins and sandwiching said textile carrier between the rigid support plate and the rigid alignment plate such that said textile carrier is releasably attached to the rigid support plate.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of providing said conductive substance comprises the step of:

dispensing conductive glue in said pattern.

8. An electronic textile comprising:

a textile carrier having a plurality of conductor lines (6a-b);

a plurality of connection pads (5a-b), each overlapping one of said conductor lines (6a-b) and having a connection pad length (L_cp) in a direction parallel to said conductor line and a connection pad width (W_cp) in a direction perpendicular to said conductor line; and

a plurality of electronic components each having at least a first component pad (8a) being electrically connected to one of said conductor lines (6a) via one of said connection pads (5a),

wherein said connection pad width (W_cp) is at least one percent of an extension (W_tc) of said textile carrier in said direction perpendicular to the conductor line.

9. The electronic textile according to claim 8, wherein said component pad has a component pad length (l) in a direction parallel to said conductor line and a component pad width (w) in a direction perpendicular to said conductor line, and said connection pad width (W_cp) is at least equal to said component pad width of the component pad that is connected to said connection pad.

10. The electronic textile according to claim 8, wherein said connection pad length (L_cp) is at least equal to said component pad length (l).

11. The electronic textile according to claim 8, wherein said connection pads (5a-b) are formed by conductive glue.

12. The electronic textile according to claim 8, wherein said textile carrier comprises a plurality of interwoven conductive yarns and non-conductive yarns, said plurality of conductor lines (6a-b) being formed by conductive yarns.

13. The electronic textile according to claim 8, wherein said plurality of electronic components comprises at least one light-emitting diode.