Switching fibers for textiles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12007630-B2
Application number	US-202318124770-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2023
Priority date	Oct 1, 2018
Publication date	Jun 11, 2024
Grant date	Jun 11, 2024

Abstract

A method of forming a color-changing fiber that can be incorporated into fabrics and other woven materials. The color changing fibers include an annular wall and a conductive wire axially extending through the annular wall, a core strand surrounded by the annular wall and extending axially through a central portion of the fiber, and an encapsulated electro-optic medium disposed on a surface of the core strand.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A flexible color-changing fiber comprising:
an annular wall and a plurality of conductive wires axially extending through the annular wall;
a conductive core strand surrounded by the annular wall and extending axially through a central portion of the fiber;
capsules including an electrophoretic medium disposed on a surface of the conductive core strand; and
a layer of semi-conductive material between the conductive core strand and the capsules including an electrophoretic medium, the layer of semi-conductive material allowing electrical driving signals across the full circumferential area of the electrophoretic medium between the conductive core strand and the conductive wires when a voltage is provided between the conductive core strand and the conductive wires.

2. The flexible color-changing fiber of claim 1 , further comprising a layer of light-transmissive semi-conductive material between the capsules including an electrophoretic medium and the conductive wires.

3. The flexible color-changing fiber of claim 1 , wherein the electrophoretic medium comprises a non-polar solvent and two types of charged pigment particles, each type of charged pigment particle having a charge polarity and color different from the other.

4. A fabric comprising the color-changing fiber of claim 1 .

Assignees

• E Ink Corp

Inventors

• Paolini Jr Richard J
• Anseth Jay William

Classifications

• D03D15/547

  with optical functions other than colour, e.g. comprising light-emitting fibres · CPC title

• D03D15/283

  synthetic polymer-based, e.g. polyamide or polyester fibres (cellulose-based artificial fibres D03D15/225) · CPC title

• D10B2401/16

  antistatic; conductive · CPC title

• D10B2401/20

  optical · CPC title

• D01F8/04

  from synthetic polymers · CPC title