• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.85-94
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• 2013

Recently, researches of piezoelectric energy harvesting were tried and in this study, a piezoelectric energy harvesting clothes was developed. First, piezoelectric energy harvesting zone on the extremities were drawn by 3D motion capturing and as a result, the hip, the elbow, and the knee were determined. A new structure of piezoelectric harvester was developed for appling to clothes. Because it needed to be flexible and sensitive for human body, the 2 layer stacked structure was proposed. A prototype of seamless garment was designed for a harvesting clothes because it needed to be body-tight and not to restrict the movement. High peak-to-peak voltages were acquired from the energy harvesting clothes.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.435-444
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• 2011

The development of ubiquitous healthcare technology and portable electronic devices requires new energy sources for providing continuous power supply. This study particularly focuses on an energy harvesting system capable of charging energy using clothing. One of the sources for energy harvesting is heat energy, which is the difference in temperature of the body and the surrounding environment. In this study, the skin temperature distribution of the human body was empirically measured to determine the basic materials needed to develop heat energy harvesting clothing. The distribution of skin temperature in different sections of the human body was analyzed. The analysis found that the skin temperature of the upper body was higher than that of the lower body. The area close to the heart with a lot of blood flow was especially high. The skin temperature of the back side of the body, such as the back of the neck, upper back, and waist, was higher than that of the front side of the body. As for the arms, the skin temperature of the upper arms was higher than that of the lower arms, and the skin temperature of the back side of the arms was lower than that of the front and the flank side of the arms. The difference in the average skin temperature and the environment temperature was highest at the back of the neck, and thereby is considered to be the most appropriate section to integrate the heat energy harvesting function and structure. The following sections had the next highest difference in values, listed in descending order: the back of the waist, the sides of shoulders, the front chest area, the front side of the upper arms, and the front abdomen. Based on the skin temperatures of the different sections of the human body, this study outlines the basic guidelines for developing heat energy harvesting clothing.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.125-132
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• 2013

Recently, the consciousness of energy crisis is rapidly growing and sustainable eco-friendly energy sources are becoming issue. Therefore the portable electronic device requires new energy sources for providing continuous power supply and the power energy harvesting system of the human body that enables the power-harvesting research requests anytime, anywhere. One of the sources for energy harvesting is heat energy, which is the difference in temperature of the body and the surrounding environment. We tried to analyze the temperature difference between the environmental temperature and the temperature inside clothing according to the structure of the closed portion. And we examined the temperature difference between the environmental temperature and the temperature inside clothing according to the material of the clothing. The analysis showed that we have been able to get different results at parts of the body in the temperature inside clothing according to the structure of clothing. In upper torso of the chest and back, the temperature inside clothing of 'closed structure' was higher than the temperature inside clothing of 'opened structure'. In the section of arm and leg, it was reduced the difference of temperature inside clothing between 'closed structure' and 'opened structure'. It was particularly noticeable in the section of leg. The results of analysis of the difference between the environmental temperature and the temperature inside clothing according to the material of the clothing, in both cases of the two materials, 'closed structure' was higher than the 'opened structure' in the difference value between the environmental temperature and the temperature inside clothing. There was a difference according to the material in the section of leg. In this study, we outlined the basic guidelines for developing heat energy harvesting clothing by exploring the structure and material of clothing suitable for the heat energy harvesting.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.49-56
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• 2014

This study aims at providing basic data for product planning to design smart clothing and to develop applications, focusing on consumers by satisfying their emotions through analyzing emotional factors on smart clothing, comparing emotional differences between conventional clothing and it, reviewing changes of consumers' emotion by integrating the product and clothing and researching differences of preference and purchase intention between smart clothing and traditional one. As the results of the study, emotional factors for smart clothing were analyzed with total 6 including 'technical', 'comfort', 'aesthetic', 'modern', 'fun' and 'multiple' factors. Among them, except for 'comport', five emotional factors showed emotional factors between conventional sport-casual clothing and smart clothing. That is, emotional factors of 'technical', 'aesthetic', 'modern', 'fun' and 'multiple' were emphasized more in smart clothing than conventional ones, indicating that they should be considered in planning products of smart clothing. Though there was no significant difference of preference between smart clothing and conventional clothing, in case of comparison of averages, that of smart clothing was a little higher. For purchase intention, smart clothing was lower than the conventional clothing. So preference seems to be not directly related to consumers' immediate purchase. To make consumers' interests and preference to result in purchase, it is necessary to develop smart clothing with more various applications and to prepare commercializing strategies. As the results of the analysis on free-descriptive questionnaire survey, consumers were interested in development of smart clothing to help diet with functions including energy harvesting from body motion, calorification and perspiration, measurement of motion and calory consumption as well as health-care type smart clothing to measure heartbeat and ECG. Reflecting these requirements from the consumers, they should be utilized as guidance to develop smart clothing in the future.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.25-38
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• 2021

The aim of this study is to protect workers and pedestrians from accidents at night or bad weather by attaching optical fiber to existing safety clothing that is made only with fluorescent fabrics and retroreflective materials. A safety vest was designed and manufactured by applying optical fiber, and energy-harvesting technology was developed. The safety vest was designed to emit light using the automatic flashing of optical fibers attached to the film, and an energy harvester was manufactured and attached to drive the light emission of the optical fiber more continuously. As a result, first, the vest wearer' body was recognized from a distance through the optical fiber and retroreflection, which helped prevent accidents. Thus, this concept helps in saving lives by preventing accidents during night-time work on the roadside or activities of rescue crew and sports activities, or by quickly finding the point of an accident with a signal that changes the optical fiber light emission. Second, to use the wasted energy, a piezoelectric-element power generation system was developed and the piezoelectric-harvesting device was mounted. Potentially, energy was efficiently produced by activating the effective charging amount of the battery part and charging it auxiliary. In the existing safety vest, detecting the person wearing the vest is almost impossible in the absence of ambient light. However, in this study, the wearer could be found within 100 m by the light emission from the safety vest even with no ambient light. Therefore, in this study, we will help in preventing and reducing accidents by developing smart safety clothing using optical fiber and energy harvester attached to save lives.