BAE Systems is supporting Great Britain’s short track speed skating team at the Olympics and other major championships, after constructing a mounting bracket to increase the mobility and speed of British athletes.
The skate innovation, designed to mimic the movement of bone structure in the human leg, improves on current models by reducing the weight of the skate whiles also increasing stiffness and stability to aid control, particularly around corners, the company said.
To develop the brackets, BAE engineers used sophisticated computer modeling software normally used to design jet fighters and submarines, in building up a complete picture of the stresses and strains a typical skate undergoes during a race.
Substituting aluminium for titanium, the new brackets are also three times the strength of previous models, allowing elite speed skaters to drive more energy into the ice potentially gaining valuable milliseconds on their competitors.
Owen Evans, U.K. Sport technology partnership project manager at BAE, said: “Prior to our research, there was virtually no data available to show how a skate performs during a race. In only a short space of time, we were able to create a simple, but innovative solution that has already proven itself a success in a competition. As far as we know, no other country in the world has access to the type of technology we have developed.”
The project is the latest to stem from BAE’s $2.3 million value-in-kind technology partnership with U.K. Sport aimed at helping British athletes in their quest for sporting success at World and European Championships as well as the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Launched in January 2008, the five-year partnership gives British sport access to the technical knowledge and engineering expertise of BAE’s U.K.-based engineers.
In addition to the work with short track speed skating, BAE and U.K. Sport are working together to develop new technologies for several of Britain’s other sports, including skeleton, cycling, shooting, wheelchair racing and taekwondo.