Color-changing fabric and applications

1 . A method comprising:

providing a fabric to an electrical connectorization system including an ultrasonic welder, the fabric including a plurality of color-changing fibers;

providing a connection bus to the electrical connectorization system, the connection bus separate from the fabric and the plurality of color-changing fibers; and

operating the electrical connectorization system to move the fabric and the connection bus into engagement with the ultrasonic welder to generate one or more welds between the connection bus and at least a subset of the plurality of color-changing fibers as the fabric and the connection bus pass the ultrasonic welder.

2 . A method comprising:

providing a fabric to an electrical connectorization system including an ultrasonic welder, the fabric including a plurality of color-changing fibers;

providing a connection bus to the electrical connectorization system, wherein the connection bus includes a metallic foil material; and

operating the electrical connectorization system to move the fabric and the connection bus into engagement with the ultrasonic welder to generate one or more welds between the connection bus and at least a subset of the plurality of color-changing fibers as the fabric and the connection bus pass the ultrasonic welder.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the connection bus has a multi-layer structure including a first layer and a second layer, wherein the first layer includes the metallic foil material and the second layer does not include the metallic foil material.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the second layer is positioned beneath the first layer.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the second layer at least partially isolates the one or more welds from a surrounding environment.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the second layer softens in response to interaction with the ultrasonic welder to promote adhesion of the second layer to the fabric.

7 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the second layer is positioned on top of the first layer.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the second layer increases friction between the ultrasonic welder and the connection bus.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection bus is a first connection bus, the method further comprising:

providing a second connection bus to the electrical connectorization system; and

ultrasonically welding the second connection bus to a different portion of the fabric.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the fabric to the electrical connectorization system includes securing a roll of the fabric to a feed roller of the electrical connectorization system, the method further comprising:

connecting a free end of the fabric to an intake roller; and

driving at least one of the feed roller or the intake roller to move the fabric from the feed roller, past the ultrasonic welder, and onto the intake roller.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the connection bus to the electrical connectorization system includes securing a spool of the connection bus to a bus interface of the electrical connectorization system.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the electrical connectorization system includes a bus guide positioned to receive and direct the connection bus from the bus interface and along an edge of the fabric to be welded thereto by the ultrasonic welder.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of color-changing fibers includes a conductive core and a polymeric coating including a color-changing pigment.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the ultrasonic welder generates the one or more welds through the polymeric coating and between the connection bus and the conductive core.

15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

forming a plurality of color-changing products using the fabric with the connection bus welded thereto;

determining, by one or more processing circuits, that two or more of the plurality of color-changing products are within a certain range; and

transmitting, by the one or more processing circuits, wireless signals to the two or more of the plurality of color-changing products within the certain range to coordinate a color-change operation between the two or more of the plurality of color-changing products.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the certain range is based on a range of Bluetooth.

17 . A method comprising:

providing a fabric to an electrical connectorization system including an ultrasonic welder, the fabric including color-changing fibers having a conductive core and a polymeric coating including a color-changing pigment;

providing a connection bus to the electrical connectorization system; and

operating the ultrasonic welder to generate one or more welds (a) through the polymeric coating of at least a subset of the color-changing fibers and (b) between the connection bus and at least the subset of the color-changing fibers.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the connection bus includes a metallic foil material.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the connection bus has a multi-layer structure including a first layer and a second layer, wherein the first layer includes a first material and the second layer includes a second material different from the first material.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the first material is metallic foil.