iReal 2E Helps Helmet Customization for Athletics at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

China just hosted the splendid 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, gathering numerous athletes and audiences from all over the world to celebrate this quadrennial sports event. Thanks to the General Administration of Sport of China, SCANTECH 3D was honored to engage with the Research Center on Additive Manufacturing and Intelligent Manufacturing of Dongguan University of Technology in customizing helmets for China’s bobsled team at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Bobsled competition is an exciting sports game in which athletes run down narrow, twisting, banked and iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh within extremely short time. Such breathtaking competition requires not only outstanding skills, but also reliable protection, especially for heads.

On May 22, 2021, SCANTECH 3D joined the hands of experts and organizers to customize protective helmets for 25 athletes of the Chinese National Olympic Team of Bobsled and Luge at Sports Center in Chongming District, Shanghai by using the technology of 3D scanning and 3D printing.

iReal 2E’s advantages in helmet’s customization

The functions of the helmet should contain protection, drag reduction, and bringing comfort to athletes. Because of iReal 2E’s infrared structured light which supports invisible scanning, there is no harm to human eyes and the scanning process is comfortable.

Athletes just sat on the chair still, after about one minute, we can obtain 3D data of his/her head. No need to worry about the ghosting caused by accidental movements since iReal 2E automatically detects and deletes it. Meanwhile, iReal 2E can 3D scan without markers.

3D printing customized helmets

Once the 3D scanning is done, the design team will design the helmet considering each athlete’s unique head shape and the tactical characteristics. Then we can get a personalized helmet via a 3D printer.

There are a lot of advantages of customized helmets for athletes. The first and the most obvious one is its uniqueness since it was made based on each athlete’s head shape.

Secondly, these helmets tend to be more lightweight, which makes the wearing experience more comfortable. Thirdly, the helmet adopts China aerospace T800 carbon fiber and pure carbon fiber materials, reducing the weight of a traditional bobsled helmets by over 0.5 kg.

Furthermore, the buffer layer of the helmet is designed with a lattice structure and is made using a 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.