Full metadata record
| DC Field | Value | Language |
|---|---|---|
| dc.contributor | School of Fashion and Textiles | en_US |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Jiang, Shou-xiang Kinor (SFT) | en_US |
| dc.creator | Seidu, Raphael Kanyire | - |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/13747 | - |
| dc.language | English | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Hong Kong Polytechnic University | en_US |
| dc.rights | All rights reserved | en_US |
| dc.title | A smart interactive retro-reflective clothing for pedestrian safety at night-time | en_US |
| dcterms.abstract | Addressing pedestrian safety at night is important to help limit the accidents recorded. Reports have revealed that pedestrian accidents are higher at night-time as compared to daytime. These accidents are among other factors due to the clothes worn and the conditions of darkness which places difficulty for pedestrian visibility and drivers' vision at night-time to recognise the pedestrian on the road. This situation has exposed pedestrians to a lot of dangers, thus the need to innovate pedestrian clothing to improve their visibility and visual detection by drivers. Recent research has reported on the use of retro-reflective materials to improve the visibility of road users and driver's response rate on the road. These retro-reflective materials have the unique property of redirecting light rays back to their source of origin in an equal distribution across different angles of observation and incidence. This property exposes the wearer by making them visible to the approaching vehicle for a quick response by the driver. These retro-reflective materials are configured to the various joints of the human body in bio-motion configurations for easy recognition and visibility. Further studies have reported on the use of light-emitting diodes operated manually to produce lights to enhance the visibility of pedestrians on the road. These are by far how recent studies have sought to provide solutions for the critical issue of improving pedestrian safety at night. However, there are limited research studies on pedestrian safety using material innovation and sensory technology to produce a smart clothing for enhanced safety features of vibration, lighting effects, and sounds. The creation of this smart clothing is still yet to be explored after careful analysis of the literature. | en_US |
| dcterms.abstract | The emergence of smart and intelligent technologies for textiles has advanced the production of smart clothing for improved safety and protection. Harnessing these potentials combined with retro-reflective materials would further enhance the visibility and safety of pedestrians on the road. This design project investigates the integration of the unique concepts of design and technology to create a smart interactive clothing to respond to light stimuli to produce safety features. The aim of this project focuses on developing and combining retro-reflective materials and an integrated wearable detection or interactive system to provide and improve the visibility and alert ability for pedestrians most esp. blind and deaf individuals who use the road at night time. A smart interactive retro-reflective clothing (SIRC) design model, which combined design and technology for a smart clothing to enhance the alert level, visibility, and recognition of pedestrian on the road was developed. Based on this SIRC design model, three (3) experiments are conducted for the effective integration of materials and technologies for the creation of smart interactive clothing. In the first experiment, retro-reflective textiles were developed with design elements drawn from African design patterns specifically the Sirigu wall paintings of Ghana. This design process adopted weaving on a jacquard loom to produce three different textiles with different weave combinations. Relevant testing procedures conducted revealed that fabric RF 3 with 1/4 satin, move 2, and 1/2 twill, has an overall good total hand value (THV) with an average values of 2.605. Subsequently, three (3) different retro-reflective textiles with different basic weave structures (plain, twill, and diamond) were conducted on a dobby loom in the second experiment. Results revealed that the eventual THV of RF2 was higher than RF1, and the unique retro-reflective property of RF1 was higher than RF2 (based on the qualitative approach used to test the retro-reflective property of the textiles). Further design treatments of the 40 dpi-120 μs parameter on the textile surface showed some clarity of design patterns without affecting the retro-reflective abilities of the textiles. | en_US |
| dcterms.abstract | In the final experiment, braided electronic-yarns and an interactive unit was developed. Herein, 0603 light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were embedded and encapsulated (using a heat shrinkable tube (HST)) in two stainless steel conductive threads (SS-CTs). This heat-shrinkable tube was further used to insulate one part of the stainless-steel conductive thread to ensure the flow of current and prevent any short circuit when the e-yarns are braided. Results on the washing test of the braided electronic-yarns showed the robustness of the braided electronic-yarns even after 20 mechanical washing and drying cycles. These e-yarns were able to produce the necessary lighting effects needed to improve the visibility of the pedestrian at night. Subsequently, the interactive unit which comprised of a micro-controller, rechargeable battery, transistor, and sensors (vibration motor and light detector) was developed and coordinated with a written code. These were integrated into two prototype smart interactive retro-reflective clothing with design patterns inspired by the Sirigu wall paintings of Ghana. Different vibration patterns and sounds (ringtones) were characterised for the selection of the best option. Results revealed that, vibration patterns with a delay time of 100ms provided the needed acceleration critical to alert the pedestrian via the human skin. Additionally, ringtone High B has a higher sound effect of 161Hz after characterising three different sound patterns or ringtones. A test of the range of detection showed the ability of the smart interactive retro-reflective clothing to detect lights from a 25-metre distance with average light levels of 10.35. With different numbers of braided electronic yarns (containing LEDs) integrated to produce the smart clothing, the battery discharge was however different as presented in this work. It was shown that the developed output proved a success for further research geared towards enhancing night-time safety for pedestrians. This proposed system will significantly help pedestrians most especially the elderly and disabled (deaf and blind) pedestrians for improved visibility, alert levels, and recognition on the road. | en_US |
| dcterms.extent | xix, 195 pages : color illustrations | en_US |
| dcterms.isPartOf | PolyU Electronic Theses | en_US |
| dcterms.issued | 2025 | en_US |
| dcterms.educationalLevel | Ph.D. | en_US |
| dcterms.educationalLevel | All Doctorate | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Pedestrians -- Safety measures | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Pedestrian accidents -- Prevention | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Personal protective equipment | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Clothing and dress -- Technological innovations | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Smart materials | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations | en_US |
| dcterms.accessRights | open access | en_US |
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