DISCOVER OUR MEMBERS
join a great ecosystem
The original ACT Head Impact Tracker head sensor is meeting well the needs of non-helmeted sports like football, basketball and handball, as well as certain helmeted sports with specific helmet types (like American Football). But it has it’s gaps in usability in many helmeted sports with different helmet models, and was not well perceived by certain athlete profiles. Through SmartEEs, a second sensor type was developed to complement the range of sensors with which impacts and forces acting on a head could be measured while doing sports. To address the needs and use case scenarios, some key features and functionalities were added to the new sensor. The lower profile, lighter weight and increased bendability are enabled by the flexible electronics design.
The result of the application experiment is 15 physical devices manufactured by CPI. The custom PCB layout is optimized for ML operation on the board. Vibration feedback is provided by a small integrated vibration motor, and the LED matrix is mounted on top to provide visual feedback on the number and indication of correctly executed movements. To minimize space in the case, the board is equipped on both sides, saving size and an additional board for the LED matrix. The CAD was designed by WINT and optimized for production by CPI.
A backpack illuminated with OLED technology should provide additional safety and at the same time make sustainable means of transport such as cycling more attractive. The main problem of this innovative idea is the OLED integration into textiles. Technical components are usually stiff and easily damaged, whereas textiles are stretchable and flexible materials, some of which are exposed to direct body contact and external environmental influences.
BOSET is a reusable, real-time monitoring device ensuring traceability of blood bags and the maintenance of adequate cold chain conditions in hospitals, where blood units are stored in refrigerated blood banks before transfusion. It accurately records temperature, humidity, delivery and storage time, light exposure, expiry date and donor information; it communicates through NFC and BLE technologies with a cloud platform connected to the Integrated Transfusion Medicine Network. It is unique as it allows to reduce uncertainties on blood management and to make the final steps of the supply chain efficient, it supplies operators with reliable data and information on whether the blood bag is suitable for transfusion, it is flexible and keeps contact between sensors and bag anytime, it avoids the use of external rigid “bagging” limiting usability and performance, it is cost-effective and reusable multiple times for different blood bags.
The solution proposed is to have sensors embedded in the elastic cords measuring the tension exerted. Inside the elastic cord has a flexible electronic sensor, connected to software which measure the tension on the cords.
Defined parameters are in place to capture the minimum and maximum tension that would be encountered by the cords in normal operation. If the readings from individual cords is outside of these parameters, which would demonstrate the failure of one or more cords, then an alarm is triggered and the fruit grower will be informed by an application on a mobile device.
e-Glove is a medical assistive wearable device able to translate hand gestures into words in real time, targeted to patients suffering from impairment in verbal communication. As demonstrated in relevant environment, the device can detect hundreds of different gestures and translate them into words thanks to an APP and speech synthesizer on a smartphone. SmartEEs experiment focused on eGlove’s fingers sub- system, helped to verify the technological feasibility of a flexible and wearable solution enhancing ergonomics, mechanics and usability, through the development of a lighter and more comfortable solution compared to the wired one.
Manufacturing of OLEDs and testing if the printed transparent silver electrodes provided by partner OrelTech can work in industrial OLEDs as ITO replacement to reduce its overall environmental impact while maintaining comparable electrical performance. Furthermore, it was tested if the highly reflective opaque printed silver electrodes from OrelTech could work as opaque electrodes in top emitting OLEDs. Based on the opaque (reflective) samples, the project successfully fabricated OLEDs and integrated OrelTech’s technology.
A small scale datalogger has been developed to be integrated into boots and to acquire data. An advanced communication protocole enabling data synchronization between the two legs has been implemented. The prototype has a size of 30mmx30mm and a thickness lower than 5mm. The electronics board is composed of a microcontroller, two 16G 3-axis accelerometers (low sensitivity / high acceleration and high sensitivity / low acceleration), a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis magnetometer, a 400G 3-axis accelerometer, a temperature/pressure sensor for environment monitoring and a memory to record data. The small-scale datalogger is already compatible with AI-based pathology detection algorithms.
The project goal was to modernize the conventional heating systems, in the recreational vehicle (RV) sector, thanks to flexible and wearable electronics (FWE). Smart textiles were used to create an autonomous and hands-off heating system totally integrated within the existing textile in the vehicle Interiors and able to improve thermal perception and comfort of the living space while also improving energy efficiency of the vehicle (ex. caravan and motorhome). ComSensus (Slovenia) was responsible for providing the smart features and control capabilities as well as their integration with the electronics and the smart living solution of the vehicle; and Interactive Wear (Germany) designed and produced the custom-made heating pads that where integrated in the vehicles interiors.
Previous work shows smart textiles’ added value in capturing lung health data. The current project has developed a smart shirt that monitors lung health and improves people’s quality of life while saving on healthcare costs. SmartEEs2 shirt can measure respiration and transmit the measured data to the wearer via a mobile app. SmartEEs2 involves practical development steps to prepare for scaling this innovative product on an industrial level.
Moveo has developed ExoBand, a self-powered, lightweight soft exosuit to support walking. This is a passive mechanical wearable exosuit introducing two innovative elements: the comfortable, wearable component made of an elastomer material and the self-powering mechanism. The exosuit material ‘stores’ energy generated by hip extensor muscles during walking and uses the stored energy to assist walking motion, resulting in a reduced metabolic burden. Moveo has received support in Smartees2 to develop ExoSense, a device using Inertial Measurement units (IMUs) placed in specific points of ExoBand to collect data on speed, posture and other gait metrics and send them to a smartphone, allowing clinicians to monitor patient progress and design patient-specific exercises, gait adjustment and rehabilitation programs.
The aim was to create a connector for wearable one-time-use humidity sensors inserted in diapers for incontinence management. The emergence of easy-to-process metallic inks creates the opportunity to apply the conductive layer directly on various cheap substrate such as paper (by printing), plastic parts and/or flexible parts (by spraying) and avoid the additional metallic parts commonly used for connection. The new connector concept focused on conductive ink that can be printed on a paper layer for the diaper sensor part and sprayed on the relevant plastic part of the connector on the monitoring device side. In that manner, metal parts are not necessary.
FICLO can help users perform better during their activities by combining Flexible and Wearable Electronics (FWE) devices, smart textiles, and artificial intelligence tools. In this sense, FICLO integrates FWE using wearable movement sensors and flexible heart and respiratory rate sensors made with textile electrodes made with conductive fabrics. FICLO will use portable electronics through wireless movement sensors connected to the textile. This gives you a clear advantage, since it is not necessary to have cables around the body that hinder the practice of sports and certain movements. However, not only portability is a key aspect in this project, but also the flexible electronics implemented in this case by textile electrodes integrated into the shirt to monitor heart and respiratory rates. These are the most important differentiating factors that give a clear competitive advantage, as there is no other product on the market that can detect body movement and monitor heart and respiratory rates to analyse exercise intensity in real time.
The market opportunity is to create a new concept of label capable of providing a new solution to this problem. These new labels will allow to show real-time information in a flexible sticker-concept device, that includes a display to see the information directly (no electronic device is needed). The position in the market is to be in between the traditional printing on paper and the standard electronic shelf label (ESL) which is increasing in cost and complexity.
A patch design has been transferred into a printed electronics version and then printed on a plastic film. Design rules and materials were adapted for screen printing. TNO (SmartEEs2) realized the flexible electronics by screen printing Ag, carbon, Ag/AgCl & passivation ink on a PET film. The flexible electronics has been cut out by laser cutting. Xsensio deposited the functional ionic sensitive layer by aerosol jet printing on the electrodes. Xsensio developed the fluidic layer system adapted to the flexible electronics for collecting sweat on skin. Further Xsensio developed the read out & communication electronic boards that connects to the flexible electronics sensor platform. An encapsulation produced by 3D rapid prototyping has been realized by Xsensio.
Initially the prototype combined measurements of 1 Lead electrocardiogram (2 sensors), sweat humidity and body temperature for stress level evaluation of the wearer.
A first of its kind sustainable knitted electronic garment with monitoring services while same time having less impact to the environment and being skin friendly to the whole body-surface.
The AE output was a faster and cheaper wearable device capable of detecting sleep apnoea, focusing on the manufacturability, easy-to-wear and cost of the final device, and embedding proprietary algorithms compliant with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). The application of Flexible and Wearable Electronics gives a clear advantage by integrating selected sensors in a smart stretchable device and drastically reducing complexity and costs. The device measures blood oxygen saturation via the SpO2 sensor and both the abdomen and chest respiratory cycles, which, in combination with an accelerometer, allows the system to process an apnoea score that is sent to a tablet for analysis and monitoring.
Two tags were produced through the Smartees project (55mm x 85mm & 40mm x 40mm). The tags were produced in volume (4,000). The required temperature accuracy (+/-0.5 degrees centigrade) was confirmed and digital calibration certificates were produced to confirm this process. A number of flexible components were investigated as part of the project but conventional electronics were employed to ensure a robust final product.
iBreve developed a patent pending wearable technology to analyze respiratory patterns in real time and provide personalized respiratory training. Our solution aims to provide a novel approach for long covid recovery at home based on continuous monitoring of respiratory biosignals. SmartEEs enabled us to accelerate the product industrialisation and to manufacture a small series of product demonstrators. Together with our SmartEEs technical service partner we integrated new manufacturing technologies for high volume component assembly & flexible components.
LATTS project, goal is to solve the gap in the energy autonomy and continuity of services of sensors developing a compact and autonomous communicating device.
The developed tag is an energy autonomous and flexible temperature logger made using organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology as an energy-harvester power source. Organic photovoltaic is light, flexible, and very efficient in low lightning conditions and can be effectively integrated in a flexible tag thanks to the development of a dedicated flexible printed circuit board (PCB).
The whole project consisted in the fabrication of ECD using only flexography. It is a direct printing process, using a relief flexible plate that applies a fluid ink to the substrate. The flexographic process is able to print on a very wide variety of substrates with a printed ink film thickness ranging from few nanometers up to 8 μm, which was suitable for printing electronics. The prototype was made of an electrochromic display (ECD) linked to an antenna and a NFC chip by using new effective manufacturing method.
A pair of gloves, as a novel Human Computer Interaction (HCI) solution for interaction within extended reality environments thanks to advanced finger/hand tracking (22° of freedom and 250x higher accuracy in finger tracking from state of the art) enabled by haptic feedback and a new cabling solution with stable resistance in all mechanical solicitations and dimensions.
In the frame of NovTech4C&R SmartEEs application experiment CEA developed together with the company PLUX a wearable device for cardiac and respiration monitoring. CEA worked on the development of the printed ECG electrodes, strain gages and conductive tracks on a stretchable substrate and PLUX provided the specification requirements, the driving electronics as well as a companion APP and performed the components qualification.
The obtained demonstrator showcases the potential of printed and hybrid electronics in the sport, wellbeing and medical sectors and in particular in relation to: conformability/stretchability for increased comfort, biocompatibility and compactness (reduced size and weight).
Within the AE we want to create the first step, a smart patch containing a thin and comfortable flexible mono-chromatic OLED with an integrated power supply. Later, this patch is to be extended to include the pharmaceutical ingredient to his adhesive film to further simplify the application. To activate the pharmaceutical ingredient the OLED should emit light with a specific wavelength of 630 nm (peak) with > 2 W/m2 (630 nm ± 3 nm).
The Oro Muscles device is a wearable solution that allows monitoring of muscles and movement through clinical grade electromyography (EMG) and inertial movement units (IMUs). By monitoring the neural activity and movement simultaneously, we can look at movement efficiency, detecting compensation mechanisms in muscle systems. Through this process, we build personalized training and rehabilitation programs for athletes, optimizing both performance and return to sport by ensuring comprehensive test batteries to decrease risk and premature return to play. SmartEEs was key to the textile integration.
Wearable medical sensors encourage healthy living by providing individuals feedback on personal vital signs and enable the facile implementation of both in-hospital and in-home professional health monitoring.
Here we developed a sensor composed solely of organic optoelectronics that measures both human pulse and arterial blood oxygenation. We anticipate that our results will inspire system-level integration of organic–inorganic electronics, where the large area, low cost and mechanical flexibility of organic sensors will be combined with the computational efficiency of inorganic electronics.
The assembly line developed in the project allows us to produce garments at a larger scale, with consistent quality. The quality measure was just to reduce the average build time (inclusive of re-work time) and because of the system that has been developed through this application experiment, this has been successfully achieved.
QuicklyPro has developed Q-Walk, a wearable device, with integrated App and control software, for the rehabilitation and maintenance of walking in people affected by Parkinson’s disease and based on the concept of visual feedback, which, as demonstrated by numerous scientific studies, is able to outstandingly improve gait parameters (speed, frequency, length and balance) in patients. Q-Walk consists in a pair of knee pads which can project customized light signals to guide walking.
This project resulted in a market-ready electrode patch to measure skin conductance on the foot of a client with a severe intellectual disability or dementia. Research and testing have shown us that a flexible electrode patch applied on the foot solves the problem of rejecting the device by providing more comfort for the user. The larger surface area to measure skin conductance, together with the application of a skin- adhesive, resulted in better skin contact and a higher signal quality, even in situations with high activity. Signal quality, robustness and comfort are key aspects of the patch design. This resulted in a disposable patch providing maximum comfort to the user and ensuring valid and stable physiological input data for the HUME system of MENTECH.
A tag prototype was built through hybrid electronics. It allowed to combine standard packaged components such as a temperature logger and printed elements such as the conductive tracks, NFC antenna and potentially printed sensors (humidity, intrusion or shock sensor).
ISRA and InnovationLab mutually designed the electronic circuit and adapted it for printed electronics. The Printing process was produced with a copper-based electrical circuits Including the reflow soldering process directly onto the prints
A pair of gloves, as a novel Human Computer Interaction (HCI) solution for interaction within extended reality environments thanks to advanced finger/hand tracking (22° of freedom and 250x higher accuracy in finger tracking from state of the art) enabled by haptic feedback and a new cabling solution with stable resistance in all mechanical solicitations and dimensions.
SIGUEMED consists on a smart blister pack (similar to a normal blister pack but with printed electronic circuits in the sealing foil) attached to a base dock with embedded connectivity. Wearables are connected via Bluetooth and beep to remind of intake time. The base dock communicates with a SW platform, to register if and when pills intake takes place. In case of non-compliance, it sends non-intake alerts to the people assigned as contact person.
SMART-HORSE-RIDING innovation is composed by a smart half pad for equestrian disciplines, namely dressage. The disruptive solution relies on the integration of flexible electronics (pressure sensors, modular electronics, etc) with a textile component: a high-quality multifilament polypropylene fabric envelope. The integration of such elements involved printing conductive tracks and pressure sensors within the half pad that is the blanket positioned under the horse saddle. The different pressure points generated by the rider position on the horse can be visualized through a custom app. The integration of flexible electronics during this project was key to deliver the final performance of the product – high resolution pressure maps that provide unparalleled features on real-time to optimize saddle-fitting and improve training
SMART-MASK prototype uses heat to denature and deactivate potential viruses within short timeframes (3 minutes) by heating the facemask at 76oC. It consists in a smart hygienic facemask, with a resistive yarn pattern on the inner layer and customized electric interconnections for powering it up. The current solution also includes the application of humidity and temperature sensors in the facemask, to regulate the heating systems applied. Both the heating and sensing systems interact wirelessly with a mobile app, providing all the necessary data to the end-user.
The prototype consists of a functional shirt with embedded ECG electrodes and body core temperature sensor, and an electronic module. The prototype is scalable in an easy industrial way for different sizes. The measured data are transmitted by BT to a mobile device and visualize by SmartWorkwear APP. The data are analysed and presentedin the form of the physiological strain index, where is the stress level described from low to high.
Development of an Intuitive lightning control panel using flexible electronics and over-moulding techniques. The target was to integrate function (button & slider) + light driving + μcontroller inside a decorative plastic cover. The advantages are:
No need of multiple injection tools (all functions are in one part)
High flexibility in shape
Reduced use of raw materials (no waste of material – reduced environmental impact)Reduced total part weight and volume.
StepUp Health is a wearable breathing monitoring device for remote respiratory disease Management, more specifically COPD. StepUp Health is using a new type of sensor technology to measure respiratory parameters, offering an unprecedented accuracy in the field of home monitoring. It is a patch, glued on the skin and used daily for an hour, or overnight in some cases, monitoring the evolution of the baseline vital parameters. The device taking shape as a chest patch with a textile extrusion in which the breathing sensor is based, that can be worn on the chest with a maximally possible comfort to the patient. Medical personnel can track multiple COPD patients remotely by using “Professional’s dashboard” which will allow quick and easy patient prioritization when choosing which patients might need immediate treatment.
The bracelet needed to be minimized in size and should include wireless charging. The wireless charging was successfully tested with the Flasher wearable at prototype level. A multilayer stacked coil design was necessary to achieve a good impedance value for a functioning antenna due to size restrictions. TNO created 3 variations of such antennas with different sizes and resulting impedance. After optimization the medium size antenna was chosen for the most suitable size and efficiency ratio.
The prototype developed consists of several electrodes in a body suit. These electrodes need to be on skin contact and have a rather sticky and not slippery surface in order to maintain the skin contact. Within the prototype each electrode is connected via a flexible cable to an electronic control unit driving the signals for a successful treatment of the persons muscles. Within the project the participating companies (Freudenberg, Born) successfully developed a process to replicate the knitted electrodes by a printing process. Therefore, a textile substrate with a heat-activable adhesive was chosen and afterwards the needed conducting paths and protective layer were screen printed on the material.
The sensor device prototypes developed in this application experiment concentrates in measuring the UVC sterilization light and its effectiveness based on the intensity and exposure time and providing both a visual indicator as well as a wireless IoT datalink. The data is communicated with commercially available devices. UVC exposure information is displayed through a prototype software application.
join a great ecosystem
Pdf icons created by Freepik – Flaticon