Structural development of a flexible textile-based thermocouple temperature sensor

Textiles are conventionally utilized as the raw materials for making clothing and complementary accessories. To keep abreast of the times, a new direction of integrating textiles into electronic technology has been given in order to develop a temperature-sensing device with outstanding built-in flexibility, versality and softness. In this study, a flexible construction of the textile-based thermocouple temperature sensor via an industrial-and-technological-based weaving process was designed. The feasible arrangement of the conductive textile materials in the warp and weft directions related to the temperature-sensing ability was studied in detail, and significant linearity was shown in the range of 5-50 degrees C with different groups of combinations of the conductive yarns. More cross-intersections and 'hot junctions' resulted from the 3 x 3 warp-weft arrangement, offering higher stability and accuracy in thermal sensation. Besides, the resistance of the thermocouple remained almost constant under different degrees of bending. The relationship between the resistance and the bending flexibility was also investigated over a range of temperature.