New smart clothing can adjust itself to your needs

Scientists in Finland have developed a new technology for smart clothing that automatically adjusts its temperature depending on the wearer’s actual needs.

The technology can be utilised in smart fabrics and clothing that are able to calculate whether the wearer needs to be cooled or warmed based on initial data measured from the person and the environment.

Furthermore, this technology is able to determine the needed warming or cooling power so that the thermal sensation of the person wearing the smart clothing remains optimal in varying conditions, according to researchers VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

The smart fabrics and clothing currently on the market faces the challenge of adjusting the individual temperature of a human body rapidly and automatically according to the wearer’s actual need.

The technology is based on the Human Thermal Model calculation tool, enabling the calculation of a person’s individual thermal sensation from the prevailing conditions.

Individual thermal sensations are ultimately caused by differences in body composition. There are significant differences between men and women, for example, because men have on average 5 to 15 kg more muscle mass than women.

The wearable smart technology sustainablycan be applied extensively even in demanding conditions, such as hospitals, nursing homes, and different consumer groups such as police officers, firemen, soldiers, outdoor workers, athletes and small babies.

In hospitals, the technology enables new solutions and makes individual treatment more effective. Wearable technology helps surgeons if they get too hot during an operation.

The clothing is constantly calculating and adjusting how much the surgeon’s body needs to be cooled.

“Hospital patients have been asked about their most unpleasant experience, and the most common answer is feeling cold pain comes only second”, said Principal Scientist Pekka Tuomaala from VTT.

For example, patients often feel cold after surgery. Body temperature can be individually adjusted, when a smart blanket identifies the person, measures the ambient temperature and adjusts the blanket’s temperature to meet the patient’s actual needs.

The technology can also be utilised when developing solutions for the individual recovery after a sporting event.