JOP20180030A1 - Conductive fabric, method of manufacturing a conductive fabric and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

A woven fabric (10) formed of a first set of yarns (12) extending in a first direction and a second set of yarns (14) extending in a second direction. The first and second sets of yarns (12, 14) are woven together. The first set of yarns (12) includes a plurality of first conductors (16), while the second set of yarns (14), includes a series of second electrical conductors (18). The first and second sets of conductors (16, 18) cross over one another at crossing points. At each crossing point, a non-conductive element (24) is disposed directly between the first and second electrical conductors (16, 18) at the crossing point (20) so as to provide a physical barrier between the first and second electrical conductors (16, 18). At some crossing points, a physical electrical connection (22) is provided between crossing electrical conductors (16, 18) in order to provide a permanent connection between the conductors (16, 18). A variety of non-conductive tie yarns (50, 52, 60-64) provided to fix the conductors (16, 18) in position. The structure provides a robust yarn with minimised risk of short circuiting between crossing conductors which are intended to be kept separate.