Speed is the most important factor when athletes are racing on snow and ice in winter In many disciplines the low friction coefficient between the sports equip ment and the surface enables speeds that are not reached by athletes in summer A ski gliding over snow usually has only a tenth of the friction that exists be tween a car tire and the road In the case of ice skating the film of water between the blade and the ice reduces the sliding friction to a minimum Sometimes only hun dredths of a second make the difference between victory and defeat This is the reason why not only the strength endurance and skill of the athletes are important in win ter sports but why high performance sports equipment is essential as well In conjunction with the Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment FES in Berlin Schaeffler has been developing high performance com ponents for sports equipment for the national teams of the German Bobsleigh Luge and Skeleton Federa tion BSD and the German Speed Skating Association DESG for many years The FES skates luges and bob sleds benefit from Schaeffler s expertise in the devel opment of high strength and low friction materials the design of rolling and plain bearings and the analysis of components and equipment using state of the art measuring technology The common goal is to develop sports equipment matched to the requirements of indi vidual athletes and to adapt it for every race to suit the conditions such as ambient temperatures ice and track characteristics Skates begging to be filmed For the German national speed skating team Schaeffler developed the material for the blades which is bonded in a carbon fiber carrier called a torpedo The blades are in direct contact with the ice and there fore have a very important function This is because the speed is not only determined by the strength and tech nical skills of the speed skater but also by the film of water that is created between the blade and the ice and significantly reduces the sliding friction The water film is formed among other things by the heat generated by the friction of the blade on the ice A low coefficient of friction and low thermal con ductivity of the blade steel are therefore important for optimum sliding properties of the skate explains Mi chael Künzel Project Manager Speed Skating at FES The heat then remains longer at the contact point so 61 here and now

Hinweis: Dies ist eine maschinenlesbare No-Flash Ansicht.
Klicken Sie hier um zur Online-Version zu gelangen.