Knitted electrochemical capacitors and heated fabrics

Abstract

A garment includes a supercapacitor and/or heated fabrics including a first conductive yarn knitted to as to form a current collector and a second conductive yarn knitted to as to form an electrode that is in electrical contact with the current collector. The conductive yarns are knitted into a predetermined supercapacitor design having respective electrodes that are not in electrical contact with each other. An electrolyte saturates at least the electrode material either before or after knitting, and an ionically permeable electronic separator allows the electrodes to be in close proximity to each other without being in electrical contact with each other. A heating element may also be formed by knitting at least one of the first and second conductive yarns into a linear resistor or by knitting an insulated conductive yarn into a sheet of fabric. Such a heating element is connected to the supercapacitor via a switch.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A garment comprising a first conductive yarn knitted to as to form a current collector, a second conductive yarn knitted so as to form an electrode that is in electrical contact with the current collector, said first and second conductive yarns being knitted into a predetermined supercapacitor design having respective electrodes that are not in electrical contact with each other, an electrolyte that saturates at least said electrode material, and an ionically permeable electronic separator that allows the electrodes to be in close proximity to each other without being in electrical contact with each other. 
     
     
         2 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second conductive yarns in electrical contact with each other in an intertwining knit structure. 
     
     
         3 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second conductive yarns are plated to each other to remain in electrical contact with each other. 
     
     
         4 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second conductive yarns are plied to each other to remain in electrical contact with each other. 
     
     
         5 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein the first conductive yarn is integrated into material of the second conductive yarn whereby one yarn comprises both the electrode and current collector components and the first and second conductive yarns remain in electrical contact with each other. 
     
     
         6 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said first and second conductive yarns are individual yarns that remain in electrical contact with each other in said predetermined supercapacitor design. 
     
     
         7 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said first and second conductive yarns are integrated into a same strand of yarn, either as a core-shell yarn or by twisting the first and second conductive yarns together, and are knitted into said predetermined supercapacitor design. 
     
     
         8 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said first and second conductive yarns are coated in said electrolyte prior to being knitted into said predetermined supercapacitor design and said electrolyte acts as the separator between the electrodes. 
     
     
         9 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said first and second conductive yarns are coated in said electrolyte after being knitted into said predetermined supercapacitor design. 
     
     
         10 . The garment of  claim 9 , wherein said separator comprises a nonconductive yarn knitted between the electrodes to separate the electrodes to prevent electrical contact. 
     
     
         11 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said electrolyte comprises an ion conducting polymer based electrolyte. 
     
     
         12 . The garment of  claim 11 , wherein said electrolyte comprises a PVA based electrolyte mixed with phosphoric acid so as to form a gel that is coated onto the first and second conducting yarns. 
     
     
         13 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of said first and said second conductive yarns comprises knitted stainless steel and/or activated carbon embedded yarn. 
     
     
         14 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said first and second conductive yarns are formed into a double layer fabric having an anode and cathode on opposite sides of the double layer fabric, said double layers being electrically separated by layers of tucked yarn. 
     
     
         15 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said first and second conductive yarns are formed into a double layer fabric having a square anode and a square cathode on opposite sides of the double layer fabric, said double layers being knitted together and connected by a spacer yarn that also electrically insulates the anode and cathode from each other. 
     
     
         16 . The garment of  claim 1 , further comprising a heating element formed by at least one of said first and second conductive yarns knitted into a linear resistor, wherein said heating element is connected to said supercapacitor via a switch. 
     
     
         17 . The garment of  claim 1 , further comprising a heating element formed by an insulated conductive yarn knitted into a sheet of fabric, wherein said heating element is connected to said supercapacitor via a switch. 
     
     
         18 . The garment of  claim 17 , wherein said insulated conductive yarn is knitted into an intarsa geometry having a high resistance. 
     
     
         19 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein the separator comprises spacing in a knit structure formed by the first and second conductive yarns. 
     
     
         20 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said predetermined supercapacitor design inter-digitates said first and second conductive yarns. 
     
     
         21 . The garment of  claim 20 , wherein the inter-digitated first and second conductive yarns are asymmetric. 
     
     
         22 . The garment of  claim 1 , wherein said predetermined supercapacitor design comprises stripes of the first and second conductive yarns separated by said separator. 
     
     
         23 . The garment of  claim 22 , wherein at least one of said stripes comprises insulated yarn. 
     
     
         24 . A method of creating a garment including a supercapacitor and/or heated fabrics, comprising the steps of forming a current collector from a first conductive yarn, forming an electrode from a second conductive yarn that is in electrical contact with the current collector, knitting the first and second conductive yarns into a predetermined supercapacitor design having respective electrodes that are not in electrical contact with each other, saturating at least the electrode material with an electrolyte either before or after knitting the supercapacitor, and providing an ionically permeable electronic separator that allows the electrodes to be in close proximity to each other without being in electrical contact with each other. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  further including the steps of forming a heating element by knitting at least one of the first and second conductive yarns into a linear resistor or by knitting an insulated conductive yarn into a sheet of fabric and connecting the resulting heating element to the supercapacitor via a switch. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the knitting step is performed by an automatic knitting machine. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising the steps of calculating resistance of the first and/or second conductive yarn as a function of length of yarn in each knitted row and knitting a supercapacitor design with predetermined resistance and/or capacitance characteristics. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the knitting steps comprises knitting the predetermined supercapacitor design and an antenna design into a same piece of fabric.