Electrical components and circuits constructed as textiles
First Claim
1. A fabric having a woven construction, including in its woven construction a plurality of spaced first elongated electrically conductive filaments or fibres and a plurality of spaced second elongated electrically conductive filaments or fibres, said first elongated electrically conductive filaments or fibres being crossed by said second elongated electrically conductive filaments or fibres at a plurality of crossover points,wherein said plurality of crossover points consists of at least one instance of a crossover point at which the first and second electrically conductive filaments or fibres are permanently biased apart and at least one instance of a crossover point at which said corresponding first and second electrical conductors are permanently physically connected together,wherein said permanently connected crossover points and said permanently biased apart crossover points bring into being at least one conductive path within said fabric that is composed of two or more contiguous segments of two or more electrically conductive filaments or fibres;
- andwherein either;
(a) the conductive path is arranged in series along a spiral path;
or(b) the fabric includes a parallel structure comprised of a multitude of parallel sub-paths, the conductive path being defined by comb shapes conductively isolated from each other, with the fingers of the combs being interlaced.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Electrical components are formed in a fabric during the weaving process by a series of crossing conductors in the warp and weft fibers of the fabric. Some of the crossing points provide permanent Separation of the crossing conductors, others permanent connection of the crossing conductors and others connection upon the application of pressure to the fabric. The structure provides the possibility of forming a greater range of components and more reliable component characteristics than heretofore possible.
62 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A fabric having a woven construction, including in its woven construction a plurality of spaced first elongated electrically conductive filaments or fibres and a plurality of spaced second elongated electrically conductive filaments or fibres, said first elongated electrically conductive filaments or fibres being crossed by said second elongated electrically conductive filaments or fibres at a plurality of crossover points,
wherein said plurality of crossover points consists of at least one instance of a crossover point at which the first and second electrically conductive filaments or fibres are permanently biased apart and at least one instance of a crossover point at which said corresponding first and second electrical conductors are permanently physically connected together, wherein said permanently connected crossover points and said permanently biased apart crossover points bring into being at least one conductive path within said fabric that is composed of two or more contiguous segments of two or more electrically conductive filaments or fibres; - and
wherein either; (a) the conductive path is arranged in series along a spiral path;
or(b) the fabric includes a parallel structure comprised of a multitude of parallel sub-paths, the conductive path being defined by comb shapes conductively isolated from each other, with the fingers of the combs being interlaced. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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6. A fabric having a woven construction with a warp and a weft, the fabric including:
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I. several spaced elongated first electrically conductive elements included in the warp of the fabric; II. several spaced elongated second electrically conductive elements included in the weft of the fabric, and crossing the first electrically conductive elements at several crossover points; and III. elongated insulating elements in the warp and/or the weft of the fabric, wherein the crossover points consist of; A. one or more crossover points at which the first and second electrically conductive elements are permanently biased apart, the permanent biasing being effected by warp and/or weft floats of the first and/or second electrically conductive elements over or under more than one of the elongated insulating elements, and B. one or more crossover points at which the first and second electrically conductive elements are permanently in conductive communication, the permanent conductive communication being effected by a plain weave in the warp and weft at the crossover point, wherein the permanently biased apart crossover points and the crossover points in permanent conductive communication generate at least one conductive path within the fabric that includes two or more contiguous segments of two or more of the electrically conductive elements, the contiguous segments together having one or more of; (1) a length, (2) a number, and/or (3) a linear resistivity, and wherein either; (a) the conductive path is arranged across two or more of the electrically conductive elements in series along a spiral path, or (b) the conductive path includes interdigitated subpaths conductively isolated from each other, the conductive path thereby providing desired electrical characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13)
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Specification