The 2017 Printed Electronics Symposium – held in conjunction with the 2017 SGIA Expo at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans – is a little over a month away.
 
With both the symposium and expo on the horizon, Printed Electronics Now (PEN) spoke to SGIA members and several presenters, who provided a glimpse into what attendees – including PEN associate editor Anthony Locicero – can expect on Oct. 10.
 
“This highly-focused event is designed for business owners, managers, printers, OEMs and suppliers,” said Joyia Marshall, SGIA community development manager. “The symposium is an excellent complement to the 2017 SGIA Expo and will offer ideas for your next electronics application challenge. After a day of learning about the e-textiles market, attendees can see some of those same technologies in person on the expo floor.”
 
The symposium will focus on e-textiles and feature a day of presentations exploring markets and applications for wearable technology.
 
“SGIA’s Printed Electronics Committee chose e-textiles because of the way they’re impacting the development of the printed electronics industry,” said Marshall. “They’re new and novel, and the business opportunities they present are growing exponentially.”
 
Added SGIA board member, Mike Wagner: “For companies looking to leverage their current screen print capabilities into a growth opportunity, I would highly recommend attending the symposium to learn more about e-textile applications.”
 
Topics include:
·  Market developments;
·  Projected market growth;
·  Advances in inks, textiles, substrates and connectors;
·  Production processes;
·  Materials and standards
 
The program will begin with a session on Developments in Technologies and Products for E-Textile Applications conducted by VCE Solutions President Vince Cahill.
 
This presentation will “describe and illustrate” the development of e-textiles technologies and their market applications, Marshall said. 
 
Additionally, it will “report on and project the market growth” for e-textiles while covering “conductive fabrics, sensors, wearable monitoring, tracking, identification and communication devices,” Marshall noted.
 
Per Marshall, applications to be discussed include active garments; headwear and footwear; medical sensing and monitoring; EMT/military and police protective and sensing garments; and temperature-controlled garments.
 
Jaye Tyler (president and CEO, Si-Cal Technologies) and John Yundt (global business manager – EM Conductive, PPG) are slated to be co-presenters for Thermal Transferred Printed Electronics.
 
The duo told PEN that it will “demonstrate why this technology – our patent pending Thermal Transfer technology that is currently being prototyped by a major US automotive OEM, a mobile device OEM, in production with a medical device manufacturer and development in the wearables sector – is far superior to other application processes and how our printed circuitry can easily be applied to many types of substrates.”
 
Diana Wyman, the technical director of AATCC, will discuss the evaluation of printed electronics textiles. 
 
“AATCC and SGIA are committed to sharing a broader range of knowledge across the printing and textile industries through joint conferences and presentations,” Wyman told PEN. “The intersection of printing, electronics, and textile industries offers a lot of exciting possibilities, but achieving the best of all worlds to meet customer expectations requires cooperation, research, and testing.”
 
Timothy C. Gorjanc, Ph.D., a senior research scientist for XSENSOR Technology Corporation, will deliver a presentation entitled: Pressure Imaging in High Speed Dynamic Applications. 
 
Gorjanc told PEN: “…speaking at the Symposium allows XSENSOR to communicate to a broader audience the importance of new forms of specialty printed circuits that enable ultra-high speed pressure sensing and imaging related to how the human body interacts with safety restraints such as air bags, seat belts, and seating/headrest surfaces during simulated car collisions.  
 
“Ultimately, we believe our technology will make automotive interiors safer for both drivers and passengers…” he added. 
 
SGIA’s Printed Electronic Electronics Symposium is scheduled for 8:30 am–5:00 pm, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Tickets can be purchased during the SGIA Expo registration process for $199 (SGIA members and exhibitors) and $249 (nonmembers) through Sept. 12.
 
Register at SGIAExpo.org.
 
For an exhibitor list, click here.