TEX-hype

Project description

The TEX-hype project is developing smart textiles that integrate electronics and sensors directly into garments to provide a remotely monitored patient monitoring system for nursing homes. In light of demographic changes, the solution aims to make healthcare more efficient and sustainable. Through a hybrid approach combining inkjet printing, pick-and-place technologies, and textile processes such as knitting and embroidery, flexible, washable textiles are created with embedded sensors for recording heart and respiratory rates, as well as movement data for fall detection. The collected data is analyzed via a web-based clinical decision support system and made available to nursing staff in real time. Thus, the project combines textile manufacturing with modern electronics, creating a foundation for predictive health monitoring in an industrially scalable format.

Project objectives and technical innovation

The project aims to develop a scalable hybrid manufacturing process that combines multi-layer inkjet printing, pick-and-place technologies, and textile processes such as knitting and embroidery to seamlessly integrate electronics, sensors, energy management, and wireless communication into flexible, washable textiles. This will create an intelligent textile system that captures physiological parameters such as heart and respiratory rate, as well as movement data for fall detection, and makes this information available to healthcare professionals via a web-based clinical decision support system. The technical innovation lies in combining conventional silicon electronics with printed, elastic components, thus preserving the elasticity and comfort of the textiles while simultaneously enabling complex electronic functions. This approach allows for industrial scalability and opens up new perspectives for durable, functional smart garments in the medical field.

Hybrid electronics in textiles for predictive health monitoring

• The solution addresses the growing need for digital health monitoring in care facilities and opens up new business opportunities for the textile and electronics industries.
• Early detection of critical health conditions can reduce hospital stays and make care processes more efficient.
• The project combines textile manufacturing with printed and traditional electronics, creating new approaches for the development of smart garments.
• Scalable hybrid production enables the transfer of results to industrial applications and promotes the establishment of innovative production chains.