Science and Technology Winter Olympics / Scantech Customize Ski Helmet Gear

Ski protective helmets, a crucial piece of equipment for the athletes of the national bobsled team, were previously mainly imported from abroad. In the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, finishing that dependence on imported gear, and using domestically independently developed and designed ski helmets to participate and be competitive, is an important aspiration.

Shanghai Chongming District’s Physical Training Center

On May 22, under the organization of the State Sports General Administration, the Research Center on Additive Manufacturing and Intelligent Manufacturing of Dongguan University of Technology joined hands with Scantech to help the Sports Center in Chongming District, Shanghai, with the integration of 3D scanning-design and 3D printing technology on the production of customized protective helmets for 25 athletes of the Chinese National Olympic Team of Bobsled and Luge who will participate at the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics.

For racing athletes, a 0.01 second increase in speed is quite precious. Therefore, in addition to the basic protective effect, the design of the helmet also needs to comprehensively consider the problem of drag reduction. The key to the design is the accurate collection of 3D data of each athlete’s entire head. The 3D scanning technology of Scantech provides key technical support and a solid guarantee of this.

Because the head contour features are rich, it is recommendable to adopt a non-contact and non-sticking point splicing technology, so we chose the iReal 2E 3D scanner to complete the acquisition of 3D data.

Head data collection work site

3D scan image

The advantage of iReal 2E is not only its high precision of up to 0.1mm but also a good fit for the helmet.  It also has an exclusive mode for portrait scanning, which can automatically remove the interference of natural body shaking and stacking. The iReal can scan without having to use markers, its light source is safe and invisible, making the whole scanning process more comfortable. Furthermore, the combined array of structured light technology creatively solves the problem that arises when scanning hair and eyes making the collection of data from the head significantly more complete.

After obtaining accurate 3D data of the head through the iReal 3D scanner, the design team can customized the design based on the athletes’ head unique shape, combined with the tactical characteristics, and use of 3D printing technology to produce the final customized helmet.

3D print head finished product

Helmets customized through this scheme not only have the advantage of personalization, but the helmets are significantly more lightweight. China Aerospace T800 carbon fiber and pure carbon fiber materials are used among the materials, to reduce the overall mass of the bobsled helmet by more than 0.5kg. In addition, the buffer layer of the helmet is designed with a lattice structure and is made using 3D printing selective laser sintering process (SLS). The topol honeycomb structure protection system creatively solves the problem of the deformation of the head details, completes the perfect adaptation to the athlete’s head shape, and can bring extremely high heat circulation efficiency. completing the perfect adaptation to the athlete’s head shape, and can bring extremely high heat flow efficiency.

athletes trying on their helmets

Scantech is honored to participate in the Chinese National Winter Olympics equipment preparation project and thank the State General Administration of Sport Recognition. In the future, we will continue to exert our technical strength to serve our country. We also wish the National Snow Team the best to shine and in winning many medals.