The Bobsleigh and Sleigh Affiliation for Germany (BSD) is about to start out a brand new season, with two main highlights for the house viewers: the FIL Luge World Championships (January twenty second to twenty eighth, 2024, Altenberg) and the BMW IBSF World Championships Bobsleigh and Skeleton (February 19 to March 3, 2024, Winterberg). The BSD needs to proceed its success story within the World Cup and at main worldwide occasions and is constructing on the know-how partnership with the BMW Group, which has existed since 2010, getting some assist from metallic 3D printing.

These disciplines during which the fabric performs an necessary function – corresponding to luge, bobsleigh and skeleton sports activities – significantly profit from the BMW Group’s experience, technological potentialities and progressive energy within the automotive business and motorsport. On the BSD season-opening press convention on the BMW Dresden department immediately, the 2 tasks on which BMW know-how switch is targeted this season had been offered: the “BMW knowledge coach” in luge and spike plates for footwear in bobsleigh. The ladder, particularly, turned particularly to BMW’s metallic additive manufacturing know-how and capabilities.

Getting the Bobsleigh began with 3D printing

It’s no secret that begin occasions play an important function in bobsledding, as they decide the velocity that the sled takes into the ice observe – you received’t discover an “accelerator pedal” for that. To translate the athletes’ athletic talents into the acceleration of the sports activities gear when pushing on ice, the fitting footwear is required. The ability is transmitted solely by way of spike plates on the soles of the forefoot. There are greater than 250 small, sharp enamel per shoe that should deliver huge forces into the ice. Enhancements to those plates lead on to the optimization of efficiency within the ice observe.

As soon as once more, it’s the know-how switch from automotive growth and manufacturing that BMW and BSD have been utilizing to repeatedly enhance the spike plates for the previous three years. 3D printing has lengthy been established as an progressive course of – the know-how specialists at BMW have been counting on it since 1991 and have established 3D printing all through all the product life cycle, from the idea thought of ​​a automobile by means of manufacturing to spare elements.

This know-how is ideal for the spike plates in bobsleigh, which till now have mainly solely come off the shelf. 3D printing opens up fully new potentialities. Efficiency elements corresponding to geometry – the place precisely are the spikes positioned? – the variety of struts and enamel in addition to the load may be different effectively, the spike plates may be printed shortly and cost-effectively and examined by the athletes. Till the optimum result’s achieved. Nothing is commonplace anymore, quite the opposite: due to the effectivity of the method, particular person plates may be manufactured for each athlete. The continued optimizations ought to be accomplished by the 2026 Winter Olympics on the newest. The specialists additionally deal with the stiffness of the plates and subsequently the footwear – as a result of not each athlete performs finest with the identical stiffness of the footwear.

Spiking it up with BMW

One other milestone on the best way there was reached this 12 months. There at the moment are numerous supplies obtainable for 3D printing for the spikes, that are being examined by the athletes. Using particular building software program can be new. It’s used to optimize elements for the automobiles but in addition gear for the BMW Group manufacturing techniques within the factories by way of weight and rigidity. This software program additionally helps the engineers on the BMW Group within the design of the spike plates. It permits the fast, automated and, above all, individually tailored creation of the respective 3D printing knowledge. The parameters most well-liked by every athlete – corresponding to geometry, stiffness, quantity and form of spikes – are routinely integrated into the design and tailored to the person shoe. 3D scans of the athletes’ footwear function the premise right here. This algorithmic design course of ends in huge time financial savings and the best attainable variability.

Within the 2023/24 season, BMW won’t solely be current on the worldwide ice channels because the BSD’s know-how companion, however can even proceed to be the title companion of the BMW IBSF Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup and the BMW IBSF Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships, in addition to the primary sponsor of the FIL Luge World Cup and the FIL Luge World Championships.