Investigating flexible textile-based coils for wireless charging wearable electronics

Smart and interactive textiles have been attracted great attention in recent years. This research explored three different techniques and processes in developing textile-based conductive coils that are able to embed in a garment layer. Coils made through embroidery and screen printing have good dimensional stability, although the resistance of screen printed coil is too high due to the low conductivity of the print ink. Laser cut coil provided the best electrical conductivity; however, the disadvantage of this method is that it is very difficult to keep the completed coil to the predetermined shape and dimension. The tested results show that an electromagnetic field has been generated between the textile-based conductive coil and an external coil that is directly powered by electricity. The magnetic field and electric field worked simultaneously to complete the wireless charging process.