Department of Textiles
Lieva Van Langenhove has a background in textile engineering. After working in industry for 5 years she joined Ghent University. Currently she holds a position as full professor. Her field of expertise is fiber based structures and textile production technology. In 2000 she started research on smart textiles. The basic research targets conductivity based smart textile components for monitoring, actuation, communication and energy supply. Functions that have been studied are monitoring of heart and respiration rate, heating, electro-stimulation, Bluetooth antenna, fiber based battery and transistor. In addition, mathematical models describing transport of heat and moisture support the design of textiles with optimal thermo-comfort. Targeted applications are health related, protection, sports and arts.