Patent Abstract:
A pressure sensible textile has at least a high-resistance conducting area and two groups of low-resistance conducting wefts or warps contacting the high-resistance area directly. The two groups of low-resistance conducting wefts or warps cross each other and do not contact with each other directly. Furthermore, two scanning circuits can be electrically connected to the two groups of low-resistance conducting wefts or warps. Then, a controller is added to the two scanning circuits to obtain a pressure sensible device.

Full Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Taiwan Application Serial Number 94135384, filed Oct. 11, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     1. Field of Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to a conducting textile and related detecting device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pressure sensible textile and related pressure sensible device.  
         [0004]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0005]     With the prosperity of technology, the conducting textile comprising the conducting wefts and warps and the common weaving fiber has been developed. Integrated with the electronic transmission sensor and switches, the conducting textile may be utilized to construct the electronic sensing units and to apply broadly to the sensing devices, for example, the pressure sensing devices.  
         [0006]     Generally, it is usually required in the structure of the pressure sensible conducting textile in the prior art at least two layers of conducting wefts and warps interlaying to each other. The conducting pressure sensible textile disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,736 is one of the examples. Without external pressure, the two layers of the conducting wefts and warps do not contact to each other and there is no current flowing between the two layers of the conducting wefts and warps, due to the insulating fibers between the two layers as a supporting structure. In the contrary, when there is pressure applied on the conducting textile, the two layers of the conducting wefts and warps contact to each other due to the external force, the current hence flow, and the pressure is sensed. However, limited by the circuit design, it is required a structure comprising at least two layers of the conducting wefts and warps for pressure sensing. Therefore, the conventional conducting textile is thicker, and the application of the relative products is limited accordingly.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0007]     A pressure sensible textile is provided. The pressure sensible textile includes at least a high-resistance conducting area and two groups of low-resistance conducting wefts and warps that intercross each other without contacting to each other. The two groups of low-resistance conducting wefts and warps both contact the high-resistance conducting area.  
         [0008]     According to an embodiment of the present invention, one of the two groups of low-resistance conducting wefts and warps is distributed over a side of the high-resistance conducting area, and another group of low-resistance conducting wefts and warps interweaves above and below the high-resistance conducting area alternately. Besides, a group of low-resistance conducting wefts and warps is grounded to separate the high-resistance conducting area into a coupled of pressure sensible areas to increase the sensitivity of detecting the location and magnitude of the pressure.  
         [0009]     According to another embodiment, the pressure sensible textile can be composed of a plurality of high-resistance conducting areas. A group of low-resistance conducting wefts and warps is directly contacted with each of the plurality of high-resistance conducting areas separately, while another group of low-resistance conducting wefts and warps interweaves above and below the high-resistance conducting area. Besides, an insulating area can be utilized to totally isolate the high-resistance conducting areas in order to increase the sensitivity of detecting the location and magnitude of the pressure.  
         [0010]     The aforementioned high-resistance conducting areas are composed of high-resistance conducting wefts and warps having a specific resistance of 10 2 -10 6  Ω/cm. Some examples of the high-resistance conducting wefts and warps may comprise carbon fibers, stainless steel yarn, cupric ion fibers or other metal-plated fibers. The breaking elongation of the high-resistance conducting wefts and warps is to be greater than 30% for a better elasticity of the pressure sensible textile. A specific resistance of the low-resistance conducting wefts and warps, such as metal conducting lines or metal-plated fibers, is less than 50 Ω/cm.  
         [0011]     According to the embodiments above, the pressure sensible textile of the present invention can determine the location and the magnitude of the pressure source simply by laterally and longitudinally interweaving the low-resistance conducting wefts and warps over the one-layered high-resistance conducting textile, and accompanying by two scanning circuits. Therefore, the thickness and the weight of the pressure sensible textile can be substantially reduced, which improves and extends the application. Some of the examples are the pressure sensible rugs at the front door of stores, the interactive perceptive dolls, the children game carpet, the direction and speed detection carpets while people walk on them, and other various applications.  
         [0012]     These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, figures, and appended claims.  
         [0013]     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings,  
         [0015]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of a pressure sensible textile and the corresponding pressure sensible device according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the specific resistance and the magnitude of the deformation of the high-resistance conducting warps and wefts;  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of the pressure sensible textile and the corresponding pressure sensible device according to another embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  is a vertical view of one of the pressure sensible areas  310  in  FIG. 3  and an insulating area  320  nearby. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0019]     A pressure sensible textile and the pressure sensible device are herein introduced to solve the problems in the prior art.  
         [0020]     Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.  
         [0021]     For the forgoing reasons, there is a need for a thin and light pressure sensible textile and the pressure sensible device adopting it such that the applicability and the convenience may be improved.  
       The First Embodiment  
       [0022]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a diagram of a pressure sensible textile and the corresponding pressure sensible device according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated.  
         [0023]     In  FIG. 1 , the main textile  100  of the pressure sensible textile is composed of the high-resistance conducting wefts and warps. The low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a  and  120   b  are crisscross distributed over the main textile  100 . The low-resistance conducting warps  110  interweave above and below the main textile  100 , and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a  and  120   b  are fixed at one side of the main textile  100 , for example, fixed at the upper side. The low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a  and  120   b  do not contact to each other in order to prevent short circuits. The weaving scheme of the main textile  100  may be any conventional weaving scheme. For example, the main textile  100  may be a multi-layered structure made by weaving, or may be a warp-inserted multi-layered structure made by knitting.  
         [0024]     The specific resistance of the aforementioned low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a  and  120   b  is to be less than 50 Ω/cm for better current conducting. The low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a  and  120   b  may adopt common metal conducting lines, and preferably, softer metal-plated fibers, such as silver-plated fibers.  
         [0025]     The specific resistance of the aforementioned high-resistance conducting wefts and warps of the main textile  100  is preferably 10 2 -10 6  Ω/cm. Moreover, the aforementioned high-resistance conducting wefts and warps need to be elastic. For example, the breaking elongation is to be greater than 30%. Therefore, the high-resistance conducting wefts and warps can not only maintain the conductivity, but also provide a delicate variation of resistance along with the deformation of the fibers. Hence the sensitivity of the pressure detection is increased. Please refer to  FIG. 2  that displays the relation between the specific resistance and the stretching strain for example. When the amount of the stretching strain increases, the specific resistance of the conducting wefts and warps enlarges.  
         [0026]     Some examples of the high-resistance conducting wefts and warps of the present invention are the conducting wefts and warps plated with a conducting layer, such like carbon fibers or cupric ion fibers, and stainless steel blended yarn or silver-plated fiber. Besides, the conducting wefts and warps of the present invention may further be conjugate spun with common weaving fibers with the present conducting wefts and warps located outside the common weaving fibers. For instance, the conducting wefts and warps of the present invention may wrap around the common weaving fibers to form conjugate fibers with a structure of wrapped yarn, while applying beaming in the weaving procedure.  
         [0027]     In  FIG. 1 , the low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a  are coupled to the vertical scanning circuit  130  and the lateral scanning circuit  140  through the switch  150  and the switch  160  respectively, while the vertical scanning circuit  130  and the lateral scanning circuit  140  are further coupled to the controller  170  respectively. In the pressure sensing duration, the controller  170  outputs control signals to the vertical scanning circuit  130  and the lateral scanning circuit  140  separately in order to repeatedly and alternately control the statuses of the switch  150  of the vertical scanning circuit  130  and the switch  160  of the lateral scanning circuit  140 , such that only one of the two switches  150  and  160  is at the “on” status for the benefit to detecting the location of the pressure source.  
         [0028]     According to the pressure sensible textile provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the principle of the pressure sensation when there are only the low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a,  and the vertical scanning circuit  130  and the lateral scanning circuit  140  coupled to the low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a,  is briefly described below.  
         [0029]     When there is a pressure source applied on the pressure sensible textile, the main textile  100  will be deformed. Since the main textile  100  is made by the elastic high-resistance conducting wefts and warps, the electric signals of the variation of the specific resistance resulted from the deformation may be transmitted to the nearest low-resistance conducting warp  110  and the nearest low-resistance conducting weft  120   a  through the high-resistance conducting wefts and warps. Further, the controller  170  turns on the vertical scanning circuit  130  and the lateral scanning circuit  140  coupled to the aforementioned low-resistance conducting warp  110  and the low-resistance conducting weft  120   a  alternately. Hence only the vertical scanning circuit  130  and the lateral scanning circuit  140  which are turned on can transmit the electric signals representing the specific resistance of the main textile  100  to the controller  170 .  
         [0030]     Generally speaking, the electric signals represented the variation of the specific resistance of the main textile  100  of the low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   a  is bigger while the location is nearer to the pressure source or the magnitude of the pressure source is bigger. Therefore, when the controller  170  receives the electric signals representing the variation of the specific resistance from different low-resistance conducting warps  110  and the low-resistance conducting wefts and warps  120   a  in order, the controller  170  is able to detect the location and the magnitude of the pressure source with operation by an internal or external data processing center.  
         [0031]     However, when the area of the main textile  100  is too big, the electric signals represented the pressure may become weak due to the high resistance of the transmission path resulted in the long transmission distance. Therefore, the low-resistance conducting wefts  120   b  coupled to the ground line  180  may be utilized to separate the main textile  100  into several areas, such that the electric signals from the pressure source between the two neighboring low-resistance conducting wefts  120   b  can only be transmitted out from the low-resistance conducting warps  120   a  between them. Any electric signals will vanish when being coupled to the grounded low-resistance conducting wefts  120   b.  Hence, no matter where the pressure source is located on the main textile  100 , the transmission range of the resulted electric signals does not exceed the area bounded by two neighboring low-resistance conducting wefts  120   b.    
       The Second Embodiment  
       [0032]     Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  illustrates a diagram of the pressure sensible textile and the corresponding pressure sensible device according to another embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0033]     In  FIG. 3 , the structure of the pressure sensible textile is different from the pressure sensible textile displayed in  FIG. 1 . In  FIG. 3 , the main textile  300  of the pressure sensible textile is composed of the pressure sensible area  310  formed by the high-resistance conducting wefts and warps and the insulating area  320  formed by the common yarn. The low-resistance conducting warps  330  are mainly located below the main textile  300  with a short section located above the pressure sensible area  310  in order to directly contact to the high-resistance conducting wefts and warps of the pressure sensible area  310 . The low-resistance conducting wefts  340  are mainly located above the main textile  300  and directly contact to a side of the pressure sensible area  310 . The materials of the aforementioned high-resistance conducting wefts and warps forming the pressure sensible area  310 , and the materials of the low-resistance conducting warps  330  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  340 , are similar to those described in the first embodiment described above.  
         [0034]     The main textile  300  mentioned above may be a multi-layered structure made by weaving, or may be a warp-inserted multi-layered structure made by knitting. Please refer to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  illustrates a vertical view of one of the pressure sensible areas  310  in  FIG. 3  and an insulating area  320  nearby. The main textile  300  is formed by weaving. As displayed in  FIG. 4 , assuming the main textile  300  is made by weaving, the low-resistance conducting warps  330  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  340  can even be integrated into the main textile  300  as a part of the main textile  300 .  
         [0035]     Please refer to  FIG. 3  again. The low-resistance conducting warps  330  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  340  are coupled to the vertical scanning circuit  350  and the lateral scanning circuit  360  respectively through the switch  370  and the switch  380  respectively, and the vertical scanning circuit  350  and the lateral scanning circuit  360  are further coupled to the controller  390 . The control method of the vertical scanning circuit  350  and the lateral scanning circuit  360  is similar to the control method of the vertical scanning circuit  130  and the lateral scanning circuit  140  of the pressure sensible textile shown in FIG.  1 . That is, the controller  390  fast and alternately controls the statuses of the switches  370  and  380 , such that there is only one vertical scanning circuit  350  and one lateral scanning circuit  360  are electric conductive. The lateral scanning circuit  360  is further coupled to the ground line  400  to provide a low potential reference voltage of the fast scanning circuit.  
         [0036]     Similar to the principle of the pressure sensible textile in  FIG. 1 , when there is an external pressure applied to the pressure sensible textile, the main textile  300  is deformed accordingly and so as the pressure sensible area  310 . However, in  FIG. 3 , the pressure sensible areas  310  of the pressure sensible textile are separated by the insulating areas  320 . Hence the electric signals representing the change of the specific resistance caused by the deformation of the pressure sensible area  310  can only be transmitted to the low-resistance conducting warps  330  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  340  coupled to the pressure sensible area  310  that carries the pressure. Further, the low-resistance conducting warps  330  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  340  are coupled to the vertical scanning circuit  350  and the lateral scanning circuit  360 . Therefore, only when the vertical scanning circuit  350  and the lateral scanning circuit  360  coupled to the aforementioned low-resistance conducting warps  330  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  340  are electric conductive, the electric signals represented the variation of the specific resistance can be transmitted to the controller  390 .  
         [0037]     Therefore, when the controller  390  receives the electric signals represented different specific resistances from the low-resistance conducting warps  330  and the low-resistance conducting wefts  340  coupled to the pressure sensible area  310  that carries pressure, the location and the magnitude of the pressure source can be determined precisely through a data processing center inside or outside the controller  390 .  
         [0038]     According to the embodiments above, the pressure sensible textile of the present invention can determine the location and the magnitude of the pressure source simply by interweaving the lateral and low-resistance conducting wefts and warps over the high-resistance conducting textile, and accompanying by two scanning circuits. Therefore, the thickness and the weight of the pressure sensible textile can be substantially reduced, which improves and extends the application. Some of the examples are the pressure sensible rugs at the front door of stores, the interactive perceptive dolls, the children game carpets, the direction and speed detection carpets, and other various applications.  
         [0039]     Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, their spirit and scope of the appended claims should no be limited to  15  the description of the embodiments contained herein.  
         [0040]     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 3