Trends and Connector Solutions in Wearable Equipment

Wearable equipment is a generic term for “electronic devices that can be worn on the body or embedded in the body.” Depending on their intended use, they can be broadly divided into two categories: devices that monitor and record physiological data such as heart rate, blood pressure,number of steps, sleep and calorie consumption; devices that enhance connectivity to the digital environment, such as smartwaches. Devices such as these will further strengthen and drive the wearable market forward in making them even more sophisticated, lighter, thinner, and smaller. In addition, smart-style devices which can be embedded within clothing enabling them to record and collect more advanced information while the person is exercising. The use of smart clothing is expected to expand in the medical sector for patient monitoring; considering electrocardiography and whole body motion sensing cannot be easily measured using smartwatches or similar devices.
JAE offers a variety of connector solutions for wearable equipment, including the RK01 Series, which is a connector for smart textiles with excellent customizability and which is optimized for high-performance and high-density equipment.

Connector Solutions for Smart Textiles

Compared with wearable devices that are worn on the body, such as smartwatches, smart textiles are less intrusive and able to more closely mold around the user to allow for easier and more accurate reading of biomedical signals. Commercialization has already begun in use cases such as safety management of on-site workers, physical condition or performance tracking in sports, and patient monitoring in the medical field.
Against this backdrop, JAE is the first in the industry to develop and sell an easy-to-handle, user-friendly and customisable connectors (RK01 Series) that can be easily attached and detached from smart textiles with one-action, even with multiple contacts. The RK01 Series is highly versatile and can be customized to suit variety of smart textile materials and pin counts, making it the optimal connector solution for miniaturizing and enhancing the functionality of smart textile products.

Use Cases

Textile manufacturers are focusing their efforts on the smart clothing business, which uses conductive materials, and are increasingly being used in a variety of applications. The RK01 Series supports more sophisticated bio-information monitoring equipment which require more than four electrodes, thanks to the batch-connection construction allowing all pins to be connected in a one-action operation.

Remote control

Operator monitoring

Care for the elderly

Sports fitness

Main Components and Features of The “RK01 Series” Connectors

The "RK01 Series" is the first connector developed for smart textiles in the industry.It consists of a plug contact on the textile-side connector and a insulator, and a receptacle contact that is surface-mounted on the circuit board of the transmitter.
Because it uses a snap button type, which is widely used in apparel products, it is a user-friendly connector that is easy for anyone to handle, making it ideal for applications requiring multiple sensor transmissions, such as motion sensing.

Receptacle contact configuration on transmitter side

Configuration of plug connector on textile side

【Feature】

Machine Washable Compatible

Machine Washing

Since the plug connector is integrated in the clothing, it must be washable. The RK01 plug meets all of the requirements in the JIS L 1930 (C4G) industry standard for machine washing.

Simultaneous Termination of Multiple Conductors

Connector mounting on conductive fiber

Due to the unique press fit process used to terminate the conductive fibers to the plug contacts, all positions can be terminated together. This can significantly reduce assembly time and cost

Simultaneous Mating of Multiple Contacts

RK01 Contact

The contact points between the socket and plug are free floating, allowing for mechanical misalignment to be absorbed. This allows for many contacts to be connected at the same time.

Download The Custom Development Process for Smart Textile Connector

RK01 Series Custom Development Process Documentation

Please refer to this downloadable document RK01 series custom development process details (PDFs)

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Subject to change without notice. Errors and omission excepted.