Abstract:

In order to monitor the pulse of the wearer in the garment, in this study, a way was proposed to produce a fabric sensor by integrating fiber Bragg grating sensor into a composed knitted structure, which was special designed by combining the air layer stitch and jacquard stitches. The compose structure is knitted with cotton yarns on a Stoll CMS-320 computerized flat knitting machine. Then, by taking advantages of good extensibility and elasticity of knitted structures, the fiber Bragg grating sensor was implanted into the structure and a sensing fabric was produced finally. For evaluating the effectiveness of the pulse sensing fabric, a test was conducted and the infrared pulse sensor was also involved for comparison. Analysis of test results reveals that the pulse sensing fabric has good stability and reliability in detecting wearers' pulse, and it is also washable and comfortable.

Key words: pulse detection, fiber Bragg grating sensor, knitted fabric, air layer composite stitch