Deformation‐Resilient Embroidered Near Field Communication Antenna and Energy Harvesters for Wearable Applications

Lulu Xu, Zekun Liu, Xiao Chen, Rujie Sun, Zhirun Hu, Zijian Zheng, Terry Tao Ye, Yi Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

E‐Textiles have gained increasing momentum in wearable electronics recently. Conductive‐yarn‐based embroidered devices, with the advantages of being soft, deformable, breathable, and protective for the skin, play an important role in replacing many metallic counterparts. However, embroidered devices face many new challenges in their design methodology and fabrication processes, such as high resistivity and low Q value of the conductive yarns, as well as deformation of device geometries during wearing. Herein, a strain‐free, deformation‐resilient embroidery process for near field communication (NFC) coil antennas is introduced. Coil geometry can endure extreme deformation by stretching with up to 50% elongation, bending with curvature as small as 16 mm in radius, and can still maintain a relatively small variation in its inductance, resonant frequency, Q value, as well as its energy‐harvesting capabilities. The embroidered coil antenna is used in an NFC‐based battery‐free body sensor system. Experiments demonstrate that the system can maintain a stable performance (voltage supply, temperature sensing, and reading range) under various deformation conditions.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1900056
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalAdvanced Intelligent Systems
Volume1
Issue number6
Early online date30 Jul 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Oct 2019

Keywords

  • body sensing
  • embroidery
  • energy harvesting
  • flexible near field communication

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