Conductive strands for fabric-based items

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9974170-B1
Application number	US-201615146601-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 4, 2016
Priority date	May 19, 2015
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

Strands of material may be intertwined using weaving techniques, knitting techniques, non-woven or entanglement techniques, or braiding techniques. Fabric that is formed from the strands of material may be used in forming a fabric-based item. The fabric based item may include electrical components. The strands may include conductive strands that form signal paths. The signal paths can carry electrical signals associated with operation of the electrical components. Each strand may have an elongated core and a coating. Strands may also include intermediate layers between the cores and coatings. The cores, intermediate layers, and coatings may be formed from polymer without conductive filler, polymer with conductive filler, and/or metal. A polymer core may be provided with recesses to help retain subsequently deposited layers such as a metal coating layer. The recesses may be grooves that extend along the longitudinal axis of the core.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fabric-based item, comprising:
a fabric formed from intertwined strands, wherein the intertwined strands include a conductive strand; and
electrical components that are interconnected using a signal path formed from the conductive strand, wherein the conductive strand comprises:
an elongated core with recesses and protruding portions interposed between the recesses; and
a conductive coating on the elongated core, wherein the conductive coating has first portions that overlap the recesses and second portions that overlap the protruding portions.

2. The fabric-based item defined in claim 1 wherein the elongated core comprises polymer.

3. The fabric-based item defined in claim 2 further comprising conductive filler in the polymer.

4. The fabric-based item defined in claim 3 wherein the conductive filler comprises metal particles.

5. The fabric-based item defined in claim 4 wherein the conductive coating comprises metal.

6. The fabric-based item defined in claim 5 wherein the recesses comprise grooves.

7. The fabric-based item defined in claim 6 wherein the elongated core is elongated along a longitudinal axis and wherein the grooves run parallel to the longitudinal axis.

8. The fabric-based item defined in claim 5 wherein the recesses comprise grooves with enlarged portions that serve as interlocking features to hold the conductive coating in place on the elongated core.

9. A conductive strand for carrying signals within a fabric, comprising:
a core having longitudinal grooves;
a conductive coating layer; and
an intermediate layer between the core and the conductive coating layer.

10. The conductive strand defined in claim 9 wherein the core is a polymer core that includes a conductive filler.

11. The conductive strand defined in claim 10 wherein the conductive filler comprises metal particles.

12. The conductive strand defined in claim 9 wherein the core comprises an extruded polymer core and wherein the conductive coating layer comprises electrochemically deposited metal.

13. The conductive strand defined in claim 9 wherein the intermediate layer has longitudinal grooves, wherein the intermediate layer comprises polymer, and wherein the intermediate layer includes metal particles in the polymer.

14. The conductive strand defined in claim 9 , wherein the core is a polymer core.

15. The conductive strand defined in claim 9 , wherein the core is a conductive core.

16. The fabric-based item defined in claim 1 , wherein the elongated core comprises polymer and conductive filler in the polymer.

17. The fabric-based item defined in claim 1 , wherein the first portions of the conductive coating have a first thickness and the second portions of the conductive coating have a second thickness that is less than the first thickness.

18. The fabric-based item defined in claim 1 , wherein the first portions of the conductive coating are electrically connected by the second portions of the conductive coating.

19. A multi-filament strand for carrying signals within a fabric, the multi-filament strand comprising:
a plurality of conductive strands, wherein each conductive strand of the plurality of conductive strands comprises:
a polymer core having longitudinal grooves; and
a conductive coating layer; and

a coating that covers the plurality of conductive strands.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Sunshine Daniel D
• Podhajny Daniel A
• Crews Kathryn P
• Mayer Kirk M
• Maasberg John Arthur

Classifications

• C25D7/0607

  Wires · CPC title

• H05K2201/0281

  Conductive fibers · CPC title

• C23C18/1633

  Process of electroless plating · CPC title

• H05K1/038 Primary

  Textiles (used as reinforcing materials for organic insulating substrates H05K1/0366) · CPC title

• H01B13/0026

  Apparatus for manufacturing conducting or semi-conducting layers, e.g. deposition of metal · CPC title