Encapsulating soldered electronic components for electronically functional yarn

E-Textiles are fabrics with embedded electronic functions that can be used in many fields, such as clothing, medicine, furniture, safety and many others. The integration of electronics with textiles requires a flexible structure that keeps the garment flexible to ensure the textile retains its physical characteristics and feel. E-textiles in wearable applications are subject to human activities. The integrated electronic components are vulnerable to these stresses, such as bending, torsion, and tensile. These forces can potentially damage the components or their interconnection. Electronics can be integrated into textiles in one of three approaches described as generations of E-Textiles. The Thesis will introduce the three generations of E-textiles through a comprehensive literature review in chapter 2. It will then discuss developing the electronically functional yarn (EFY) as a third generation in E-textiles and garments. The production process of this yarn has three main steps: soldering the semi-conductor on the copper wire, encapsulating it within a micro pod of resin, and covering the micro pod within the filament of the yarn. A detailed study of the encapsulation process and the unit's design is then introduced in the Thesis, where a novel method for packaging electronics using a UV-curable resin was introduced. The design process for the automated encapsulation of soldered semi-conductor has been investigated in Chapter 3 of this Thesis. The novel approach has been evaluated on various electronics and then extended to thin Kapton strips with embedded electronics. The resulting EFY then can be later used in woven or knitted textile. Finite element analysis (FEA) of the soldered semi-conductor on the wire is presented in chapter 4. FEA simulations are used to evaluate the mechanical performance of different electronics and how stresses are distributed after adding the resin and creating the micro pod. This FEA investigation of the materials and micro pod dimensions will understand the packaging method's reliability. The final part of the Thesis included further development added to the design of the encapsulation unit and the electronically functional yarn manufacturing. Developing a reliable, repeatable, and automated electronic packaging method for electronics embedded in the electronically functional yarn (EFY) was achieved in this project. The results were promising for further research