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Fig. 70 A prototype ElekTex ® keyboard sleeve for Microsoft’s Ultra-Portable computer [134]<br />
The peripheral designs include ElekTex ® keyboards, which are either connected to the PC by a shortrange<br />
wireless signal (the Bluetooth standard) or which use a universal serial bus (USB) port. The<br />
touchpad provides an interface technology for development of dynamic and feature-rich peripherals<br />
and can be used, for example, to enable typing on tablet PC cases, provide portable typing interfaces<br />
for leading mobile devices and extend the usability of mobile PCs with media and data entry controls<br />
[134].<br />
Research is currently conducted by Konarka Technologies Inc. and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral<br />
de Lausanne (EPFL), aiming at the development of photovoltaic fabrics, based on nanotechnology.<br />
The production of a photovoltaic fibre, able to produce electric energy from the sunlight, has already<br />
been demonstrated. The company Konarka is specialised in plastics that convert light to energy and<br />
hence in the co-operation with the Swiss school they incorporated a light-activated power plastic into<br />
nylon, so the nylon becomes photovoltaic. However, strength, thickness and electrical performance of<br />
the fibre need to be optimised in textiles in order to use as reinforcement in concrete and masonry<br />
[135].<br />
Photonic Inc. is active in the field of buildings. They developed a system capable to characterise<br />
different structural behaviours in real time. The system is textile integrated.<br />
Appearance changing textiles, like luminescent textiles, also use at least partly electronics to get<br />
functionalised. For the production of luminescent textile structures, researchers at the TITV Greiz used<br />
a woven double comb structure with electrodes woven in on both sides. The whole structure is coated<br />
with an electroluminescent printing paste, which is activated to light by high-frequency voltages [81,<br />
82, 83, 84].<br />
The German Gesellschaft für Intelligente Textile Produkte, ITP, is specialised in producing heating<br />
fabrics. Their product line ranges from heating woven structures, over heating nonwoven structures to<br />
heating knitted textile structures. Basically, they are using silvered coated Nylon fibres and silvered<br />
71