AmbiKraf: A nonemissive fabric display for fast changing textile animation

Abstract

With this paper we present AmbiKraf, a non-emissive fast color changing fabric display. Our main motivation is to investigate the possibility of an actual fabric technology that can change the color in the form of a display. The core novelty of this paper addresses in presenting a base line technology that enables such a ubiquitous fabric display that lets the user interact with the actual fabric itself. Here, we use thermochromic inks and Peltier semiconductor elements to achieve a rapid color changing display. The implemented controller is able to control the temperature with a high accuracy and thereby accurately control the color of the thermochromic ink display. In addition the controller has fast heating/cooling ability which presents the ability for a relatively high speed display on the fabric. The calming nature of this animated fabric display is presented through few prototypes that ubiquitously combine the technology with daily fabrics. The paper describes the complete implementation of the system and presents a detailed analysis of the technical results. © 2011 IEEE.