Callit light up shirt, luminous shirts,glow-in-the-dark tees, electro shirt, EL shirts, Animated Shirts theyÂ’re allbased on the same technology: Electroluminescence. But what the fuss about themand why do they have the potential to change forever the way you wear a tee?HereÂ’s a simple description of their use and technology written by Jean R.Desvernay from Electro-Wear Ltd (electro-wear)and Robert Doornick from Allura Intelligent Product(Alura@InternationalRobotics).

Light up Shirt: WhatÂ’s thefuss?

Who today doesnÂ’t have in its cupboard adozen of lousy tees with a company name printed on it?

From College, Mom and Pop shop to top 500company, advert tees have became such a norm that it has almost became anobligation for any company to give away tees with their brand printed on it totheir customers.

However, because it has became a decadesold norm in a media saturated age, printed garment are losing their advertisingpower.

Electro-Wear, a company based in New Yorkwith manufacturing facilities in has found a radical new way to give atremendous boost to printed ads on garments with electro-luminescenttechnology, distributing its light up shirts also called EL shirts to a widerange of industries.

Simplyimagine a neat Neon Sign, like those in Las Vegas, reduced, flattened out andpatched directly on almost any garment. A regular Tee is now turned into awearable Luminous Animation. Not only that but it comes with mind blowingfeatures, such as being sound sensitive with a logo on the front shirt lightingup with the sound of your voice or with the beat of music.

Because of those luminous features thoseLight up Shirts are showing that they can increase by the 1000Â’ fold the viewerand passer by attention, making them an ideal way to advertise a brand.

Big corporation are now increasinglyturning their attention to this very promising advertising medium.

Warner Bross is the latest in a row tostart advertising their product on Light up Shirts, among dozens of othersbrands varying from FM Radio station to Hokey Team.

ThatÂ’s what Light up Shirt are all about,and this technology is about to give a pretty big revival to the traditionalgarment printing industry.

How does it work?

Lightup shirt, luminous shirts, glow-in-the-dark tees, electro shirt, EL shirts,Animated Shirts are an ordinary t-shirt enhanced with a graphic illuminatingelectroluminescent panel. While glow-in-the-dark apparel and apparel utilizingLED displays have long been popular novelty items, light-up t-shirts with electroluminescentdisplays are a fairly recent phenomenon. The unique characteristics ofelectroluminescent light-up technology make light-up t-shirts a versatile andunique alternative to traditional light-up methods. This article aims todiscuss the science behind an electroluminescent display and maps thedevelopment of electroluminescent displays from their most basic form to use intoday’s ‘light-up’ t-shirts. The process of creating a completed ‘light-up’t-shirt will also be discussed.

AnElectroluminescent Light Source.

Inits most simple form an electroluminescent light source consist of aphosphorous material sandwiched between two electrodes, one of which istransparent. A phosphorous material is simply a substance that glows whenexcited by electricity. An electrode is a material that emits or receiveselectricity, for example glass or metal. Two fine wires lead from theelectrodes to the source of power and an AC current is required. The deviceremains cool while lighting up and this is a defining characteristic of aluminescent light source. Electroluminescent light sources provide brightuniform light over a large area and are extremely thin. For this reasonelectroluminescent lamps have many practical applications. Electroluminescentlamps may be found in clock and instrument dials, in safety lighting and billboard displays. However, an electroluminescent light source in its simplestform is not readily adaptable to more creative applications.

Early Developments inElectroluminescent Lighting.

Inthe 1970s the basic electroluminescent lamp was modified and a wide range ofapplications for electroluminescent lighting became apparent. The mostsignificant modification being that the phosphorous material is no longersandwiched between two electrodes. (2) Rather the two electrodes, separated byan insulating film of polyester, form an electrical grid on top of which thephosphorous material may be ‘painted’. The grid-like nature of the electrodecontinues to allow the electric field to penetrate the phosphorous layer. Thisform of electroluminescent lighting has been used to literally paintelectroluminescent artworks.

Further Developments inElectroluminescent Lighting.

Furthermodifications to the basic electroluminescent lamp bring us to the electroluminescentpanel found on ‘light upÂ’ t-shirts. Like the electroluminescent lamp developedin the 1970s todayÂ’s electroluminescent panels consist of an electrical grid ontop of which a phosphorous layer is printed in the desired design. A thin pliableand transparent sheet of material is placed on top of the phosphorous layer.Areas of the membrane are opaque while others are transparent in accordancewith the printed design led garden light wholesale of the phosphorous layer. A transparent protectivecoating is applied as the final layer. Using different phosphorous materialscreates different colors while alternating and dividing the power supplybetween different areas on the electrical grid creates designs that light insequence. Finally an inverter is used to allow the electroluminescent panel tobe run by a small battery pack.

Electroluminescent Panels andLight up T-shirts.

Alight-up t-shirt is created by applying an electroluminescent panel to anordinary t-shirt. In a well made light-up t-shirt the electroluminescent panelwill be stitched to a Velcro backing. A Velcro patch sewn to the t-shirt allowsthe panel to be attached and removed at ease. A slit in the t-shirt itself andVelcro patch allows wiring from the panel, in the form of a thin plastic cable,to be threaded inside the t-shirt. Wiring then runs to a battery pack concealedinside and at the base of the t-shirt.

The Future of Light up Apparel

Electroluminescentpanels today are a highly versatile light source. Electroluminescent panels maybe created in an infinite number of designs and in a range of colors (see electro-wear for more information). Flashing sequences maybe manipulated to animate the design and in recent developments may evencombine a sound activation device to create sound responsive animations.Electroluminescent panels are increasingly popular in the advertising industryfor their versatility. The light-weight and flexible design of anelectroluminescent panel allows it to be applied to a variety of other mediums,besides t-shirts. ‘Light-up’ caps and ‘light-up’ wrist wrap or independentlight up panels are increasingly popular forms of ‘light-up’ apparel and workin much the same way as the electroluminescent t-shirt described above.

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