Garments already exist that circulate liquids to cool or warm the wearer, but those garments tend to be equipped with cumbersome and noisy pumps.Meanwhile, an experimental new system uses interwoven tubular fibers As pumps.
Created by scientists at the EPFL Institute in Switzerland, the technology incorporates 2mm wide fibers that can be woven into conventional threads. Each hollow fiber is produced by first winding a polyurethane thread and two of his copper wires around a steel rod, heating and fusing the threads and wires, and then sliding them off the rod.
When the resulting tube is filled with a special non-conductive liquid and connected to a small wearable power source, two spirally wound wires act as electrodes, ionizing and accelerating the liquid’s molecules. This produces a perfectly quiet net forward flow of the fluid, based on a principle known as charge injection electrohydrodynamics.
LMTS EPFL
The liquid pressure in tubular fibers varies with the length of each fiber. The shorter the fiber, the higher the pressure.
Additionally, if the fiber network circulates the liquid through tiny heated or cooled wearable reservoirs, it can heat or cool the wearer accordingly. Such systems could be used not only to keep people comfortable, but also to reduce inflammation and improve performance in athletes. It may even be incorporated into the artificial muscles used.
Additionally, the materials used in this technology are inexpensive and fiber pumps can withstand washing in detergents in a washing machine.
“The pump is already working well, and we are confident that with further work, we can continue to improve in areas such as efficiency and longevity,” said postdoctoral researcher Michael Smith, lead author of the study. said.
A paper on this study was recently published in the journal chemistry.
Source: EPFL via EurekAlert
