Textile Materials Technology, Department of Textile Technology, Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden.
Institute for Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Sci Rep. 2023 Oct 13;13(1):17408. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-44622-5.
Electro-stimulation to alleviate spasticity, pain and to increase mobility has been used successfully for years. Usually, gelled electrodes are used for this. In a garment intended for repeated use such electrodes must be replaced. The Mollii-suit by the company Inerventions utilises dry conductive rubber electrodes. The electrodes work satisfactory, but the garment is cumbersome to fit on the body. In this paper we show that knitted dry electrodes can be used instead. The knitted electrodes present a lower friction against the skin and a garment is easily fitted to the body. The fabric is stretchable and provides a tight fit to the body ensuring electrical contact. We present three candidate textrodes and show how we choose the one with most favourable features for producing the garment. We validate the performance of the garment by measuring three electrical parameters: rise time (10-90%) of the applied voltage, net injected charge and the low frequency value of the skin-electrode impedance. It is concluded that the use of flat knitting intarsia technique can produce a garment with seamlessly integrated conductive leads and electrodes and that this garment delivers energy to the body as targeted and is beneficial from manufacturing and comfort perspectives.
电刺激已成功用于缓解痉挛、疼痛和提高活动能力多年。通常使用凝胶电极进行此操作。在打算重复使用的服装中，必须更换这些电极。Inerventions 公司的 Mollii 套装采用干式导电橡胶电极。这些电极的工作效果令人满意，但服装穿起来很麻烦。在本文中，我们展示了可以使用针织干式电极代替。针织电极与皮肤的摩擦较小，且服装很容易贴合身体。这种织物具有弹性，可以紧密贴合身体，确保电接触。我们展示了三个候选电极，并展示了如何选择具有最佳特征的电极来制作服装。我们通过测量三个电参数来验证服装的性能：施加电压的上升时间（10-90%）、注入的净电荷量和皮肤-电极阻抗的低频值。得出的结论是，采用平纹集圈提花技术可以生产出一种带有无缝集成导电引线和电极的服装，这种服装能够按目标向身体输送能量，从制造和舒适度的角度来看是有益的。
