A British war veteran turned paralympic snowboarder thinks he can use a new technology to get ahead of his competitors. The man, whose both legs were amputated just above the knee, can use glass-reinforced nylon binders to snowboard a lot faster.
The so-called Centre for Modelling & Simulation (CFMS) used a 3D printing technique to make the nylon binders. Paralympian Darren Swift hopes to snowboard with it at the 2022 Paralympic Games in China. According to Davide Bianchi, head of 'advanced simulation' at CFMS, this is the first 3D product of its kind. "Some five hundred design hours went into it and production took about two years, partly because of the complex and high-end design techniques," he told The Manufacturer.
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A game changer
Darren Swift (aka 'Swifty') calls the new binders a 'game changer' for paralympic snowboarding. The former military man knocked on CFMS's door with a design of his own. He got the inspiration to take up snowboarding after his accident had left him sitting down to ski. He lost both his legs in an explosion in Northern Ireland in 1991. He then experimented with sports such as skydiving and canoeing, among others. For the last three years, he has been training as a snowboarder for the Paralympic Winter Games in 2022. Although the product will still need adjustments before then, Swift says the new binders relieve pressure on his spine and pelvis to the extent that he can snowboard better.
Physics principles
Davide Bianchi, a former aerospace engineer, says in the same inspiring article that his team had to fall back on physics principles based on Swift's design concept because there were no other examples of such a product. "The design was complicated because in the beginning we did not know which technology to use. Once we had listed all the requirements, we started doing the initial calculations to understand what dimensions we needed. The product had to be adjustable, so we had to make something that allowed you to achieve different angles for different athletes. We soon realised that we needed a technology that would allow us to create very fine details, so we jettisoned all traditional machining technologies because certain angles could not be produced that way. The only technology left was 3D printing."
Selective laser sintering
CFMS' FDM printer proved unsuitable for making the binders, so Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology was employed. This allowed multiple materials to be used. "The problem is that printing in metal costs a fortune. That would make the product unaffordable for future consumers. That left, through exclusion, only polymer. In this case, it is glass-reinforced nylon. We designed that for SLS, but the problem with this technique is that the CAD design often comes out of the printer slightly different. In the case of these binders, that's a problem anyway because it consists of many small sliding components that have to move within very small tolerances. So once we had the final design, partly by hand-drawing 3D models, we ran a structural analysis on it that added the final 'i' to the design. Then we were able to print. We printed all the joints and hinges to make sure everything came out correctly."
Bianchi and his team were faced with making a product originally used only by able-bodied athletes. Because the binders would now be used by someone without knees, Swifty's unique posture and load distribution were key factors in the design process. However, the binders are made in such a way that it can be adapted to personal circumstances for any disabled athlete.
The binders were printed by Airbus. Last year, they were successfully tested on a ski slope by Swift, among others.
Source: The Manufacturer
Photos: CFMS
