From an article in Metrology News.
Discussions between Jon Owen, Mark Grimmette, and the Creaform team about the idea of bringing 3D measurement technology into the design and development process of advanced luge sleds started during the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) a few years ago. USA Luge was looking for advice and support from a market leader in 3D scanning to increase the performance of their sleds by improving the athlete’s position on the pod and raising the aerodynamics. “Our goal remains to make the equipment more comfortable and more aerodynamic for our athletes,“ says Mark Grimmette, “so they can drive the sled better, easier, and faster and achieve the results that they want.“
Could 3D scanning be the solution to subtract those few precious tenths of a second needed to lead American sliders to the fastest time at the 2022 Games in China? In search of this answer, Creaform and USA Luge teamed up in the following projects.
Reproducing a Set of Winning Steels with 3D Scanning
After Summer Britcher’s success at the World Cup on the Oberhof track in Germany, USA Luge wanted to characterize the set of steels that enabled the athlete to succeed and win her coveted medal. This way, the team could better understand the optimal conditions that led to this result on this specific track. They could catalog the equipment that performed well in races and build a database to find similarities between winning equipment, athletes, and tracks.
Moreover, thanks to the HandySCAN 3D scanner and its blue laser technology, offering a mesh resolution of 0.1mm, the team could capture the finest details of the winning steels with the needed resolution to reproduce them for future races and, thus, repeat the previously obtained success.
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