Active lighting for police vests with Platilon® TPU films

At night, in fog, rain or traffic, being seen can save a life. Yet most reflective strips on police and rescue vests only work when light hits them. XTRA Dynamics wants to change that by adding its X-TENSE electroluminescent films to high-visibility police wear.

Law enforcement teams increasingly ask for smart textile technologies built directly into standard-issue vests: thin, flexible and durable, breathable enough for long operational shifts, and compliant with both ballistic and high-visibility workwear requirements.

Electroluminescent (EL) technology uses special screen-printed ink systems that glow when switched on. Printed silver tracks form the circuit, so the printed panel produces a smooth, even, homogeneous light without the need for LEDs. When trialling this technology on an EL jacket, XTRA Dynamics turned to Covestro for a polymer film stack that could carry the EL layer, protect it from moisture and bond the light panel to the garment. 

The logical next step for this workwear illumination technology is police use, where standard LED and OLED parts are simply too thick, rigid or complex to integrate into a high-performance vest.

Certified government uniforms raise the bar again. Anything added to the vest must withstand repeated washing, hold its mechanical properties through mechanical stress, UV and temperature variation, and leave the garment’s certified high-visibility area untouched – which is why rigid electronic devices have proved too thick, too stiff or too complex to integrate.

Police protective gear leaves little room for compromise. It has to meet high-visibility requirements, stand up to rough use and stay comfortable over long shifts. XTRA Dynamics needed to place its stretchable EL film technology on a flexible carrier strip less than 200 µm thick in total, so it could be added to a police vest without affecting safety and still bend, stretch and move with the wearer.  

The carrier strip had to integrate active lighting into the vest without feeling like a rigid electronic device bolted on top, while carrying printed silver tracks of conductive inks for the circuit and an EL or electroluminescent layer that delivers homogeneous light distribution across the whole strip, so police officers could be recognized clearly in the dark.

Police wear also demands other high-performance mechanical properties. It needs to be water-resistant, coping with rain, washing, scuffs, and UV rays, as well as heat and cold. The EL system also had to use very little power and give off no heat from the printed electronics. 

We developed a three-layer stack of Platilon® TPU films to carry, protect and bond the X-TENSE lighting system into the police vest. Each layer has a clear job. 

Platilon® 9184 forms the printable polyurethane carrier for printed electronics, giving the electronic inks and silver tracks a reliable surface for precise printing. Platilon® WB 9032 acts as a water vapor barrier, helping to shield the printed electronics from rain, damp, heat and cold. Platilon® 2108 Y forms the hotmelt layer that bonds the finished strip to the vest textile.

The process combines screen printing conductive and electroluminescent inks in precise patterns onto the Platilon® 9184 surface, building up the illuminated zones and embedded circuitry. During printing, the TPU film is supported by a temperature-stable polypropylene carrier to ensure dimensional stability. Once released, the complete film assembly is less than 200 µm thick: a flexible substrate for the police vest that is abrasion resistant, soft and ready to move with the wearer.

The X-TENSE system produces a broad, even glow at low voltage, with little power use and no heat. The homogeneous light distribution film is built into the dark navy band of the yellow vest, with two lit panels on the front and our illuminated Covestro logotype on the back. Our water-resistant polymer film stack is limited to this narrow strip so the vest can breathe.

Where moisture permeability rather than blocking is the goal, the same Platilon® range offers breathable TPU film grades for protective wear — one material platform, two moisture strategies. For manufacturers, the same platform is a scalable route to bring printed circuitry into functional clothing, workwear and other smart textile applications.

The result is a high-performance electroluminescent film textile for police use - and one suited to applications like high visibility vests for delivery cyclists in urban areas.  No matter what the use, XTRA Dynamics supplies the lighting system, while our Platilon® thin films make it tough and wearable.