Patent Publication Number: US-2012023718-A1

Title: Method for manufacturing a conductive fabric and products thereof

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a Division of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/026,418, filed Feb.  5 ,  2008 , the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a conductive fabric and products thereof and particularly to a method employing a fastening means to form spaced dot-type fastening spots on a first soft base and a second soft base to bind a conductive yarn laid between them to facilitate fast production of the conductive fabric. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A conventional method to fabric a conductive fabric, referring to 
       FIG. 1 , generally is accomplished by direct knitting and weaving a conductive yarn  12  into a soft base  11 . While such an approach can bind the conductive yarn  12  with the soft base  11 , but the finished conductive fabric  10  is more expensive and production time is longer. 
     To remedy this problem, some producers try to sew conductive yarns  22  directly on a soft base  21  according to a preset layout to form a conductive fabric  20  (referring to  FIG. 2 ). But the conductive yarn  22  could receive drastic friction during the sewing operation and be damaged or even rupture. The sewed conductive yarn  22  also easily loosens off and results in a lower quality of the conductive fabric  20 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the disadvantages of the manufacturing method and products of the conventional conductive fabrics, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved method to produce conductive fabrics faster. 
     The method of the invention mainly binds a conductive yarn between a first soft base and a second soft base through a fastening means by spaced dot-type fastening spots. The fastening means could be a needle punching apparatus to bind an upper layer textile and a lower layer textile in a needle punching fashion to form spaced dot-type fastening without hitting the conductive yarn laid between them. Thus the finished products of the conductive fabric can be produced faster. 
     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a top view of a conductive fabric produced by conventional knitting and weaving. 
         FIG. 2  is a top view of a conductive fabric produced by conventional sewing. 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of a conductive fabric according to the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a front sectional view of the conductive fabric of the invention in a binding condition. 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of the fastening means of the invention laid in a regular fashion. 
         FIG. 6  is a top view of the fastening means of the invention laid in a staggered fashion. 
         FIG. 7  a top view of the fastening means of the invention laid in a spot fashion around a conductive yarn. 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic view of a conductive fabric of the invention formed by thermal bonding or pressing a first soft base and a second soft base that consist of an upper layer and a lower layer made from textiles or nonwovens, and rubber material, synthetic resins and polymers. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 3 and 4  for an embodiment of the manufacturing method of the invention to fabricate a conductive fabric  70 . The method includes disposing a conductive yarn  50  between a first soft base  30  and a second soft base  40  on an upper layer and a lower layer in a symmetrical or asymmetrical manner. The first soft base  30  and the second soft base  40  are textiles or nonwovens. The conductive yarn  50  is a stainless steel fibre yarn, an alloy fibre yarn, a carbon fibre yarn, a silver fibre yarn, a copper fibre yarn, or other metal yarns or non-metal conductive yarns. The conductive yarn  50  also has a first electric coupling end  51  and a second electric coupling end  52  (or more than one set) extended outwards between the first and second soft bases  30  and  40 . The conductive yarn  50  is fastened through a constructing portion  610  of a fastening means  60  in a fashion of spaced dot-type spots without being hit. The fastening means  60  is a needle punching apparatus in this embodiment. The constructing portion  610  is a punch needle. The spaced dot-type spots  61  are formed by entangling the fibres so that the conductive yarn  50  and the first and second soft bases  30  and  40  at the upper and lower layer are bound together to form the conductive fabric  70  without damaging the conductive yarn  50 . 
     Moreover, the conductive yarn  50  is first bonded to the first soft base  30  or the second soft base  40  in a symmetrical or asymmetrical manner; next, the second soft base  40  or the first soft base  30  is covered thereon; then the two soft bases at the upper and lower sides are fastened together by means of the constructing portion  610  of the fastening means  60  through spaced dot-type spots without hitting the conductive yarn  50 . 
     The construction portion  610  may be hydroentangling using high speed water ejection to form the spaced dot-type spots to bind the fibres. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , the spaced dot-type spots  61  formed by the constructing portion  610  (referring to  FIG. 3 ) on the conductive fabric  70  may be in a regular fashion, or a staggered fashion as shown in FIG. 
       6 , or around the conductive yarn  50  as shown by fastening spots  61   b  in  FIG. 7 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , the constructing portion  610  to form the spaced dot-type fastening spots  61   a  may also be a thermal bonding means or thermal pressing means. In such an embodiment the first and second soft bases  30   a  and  40   a  consist of textiles or nonwovens at the upper later and the lower layer, and rubber material, synthetic resins or polymers that are thermally bonded or thermally pressed to form a secured binding to quickly fasten the conductive yarn  50  between the first and second soft bases  30   a  and  40   a  of the upper and lower layers in a dot-type fastening spots manner to form the conductive fabric  70 . 
     As a conclusion, the invention provides a method to manufacture a conductive fabric that has the first and second soft bases  30  and  40  at the upper and lower layers with the conductive yarn  50  laid between them to form a circuit in a symmetrical or asymmetrical fashion. Then the first and second soft bases  30  and  40  and the conductive yarn  50  are fastened through the constructing portion  610  of the fastening means  60  in a fashion of spaced dot-type fastening spots. Such an approach can fabricate the conductive fabric  70  quickly and form a more secure binding and overcome the problems occurred to the conventional techniques of knitting and weaving or direct sewing. It provides a significant improvement.