On the evening of February 7, China's Ren Ziwei won the gold medal in the men's 1000m short track speed skating final at the Beijing Winter Olympics. In addition to the individual performance of the athletes on the field, the influence of other factors on the performance of the competition cannot be ignored, and equipment is one of them.
In the past, most of the high-level ice and snow athletes on the mainland needed to be customized abroad, with the help of the Beijing Winter Olympics, guided by the "Science and Technology Winter Olympics", the Chinese Winter Olympics competition uniforms were independently developed, and the "science and technology +" Made in China escorted the Beijing Winter Olympics, so that China's ice and snow sports equipment got rid of its dependence on overseas and realized the super world-class "Made in China".
Comprehensive drag reduction design, high-tech anti-cutting fabrics, active heating technology... A series of "black technology" make athletes faster and stronger on the ice and snow field!
On February 11, China's Ren Ziwei was in the competition. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo
It can also be a plus to reduce the resistance
Racing events such as short track speed skating and alpine skiing have very strict speed requirements, and racing athletes usually compete in tight clothes, which can reduce air resistance.
"Speed skating is similar to short-track speed skating clothing, the whole is wrapped, and the wind resistance is relatively strong." Ren Zhenhua, a teacher in the ice and snow department of Hebei University of Physical Education, said. "In the production of short track speed skating and speed skating clothing, I participated in the Winter Olympics clothing testing session, which was divided into three stages."
Ren Zhenhua introduced that the first stage is to conduct a wind resistance test on the selection of fabrics.
"In the general cognition, it is believed that the smoother the fabric, the better the wind resistance effect, in fact, on the contrary, the experiment proves that the wind resistance effect of the fabric that is not particularly smooth is the best, and the wind resistance effect of the uneven fabric is better." Ren Zhenhua said.
High-speed ice skating needs to fight against the air resistance equivalent to more than a dozen winds, and an excellent set of professional speed skating competition suits can help athletes reduce drag and ride the ice rink. When a new suit is introduced, how to measure its drag reduction effect requires a wind tunnel test.
The weight of the racewear fabric is also particularly important, and the clothing fabric will affect the drag reduction effect. The smaller the aerodynamic resistance of the cloth, the smaller the resistance coefficient, and the smaller the resistance to the movement.
The second testing stage is to control the weight of the fabric. "The weight of the fabric is heavy, which invisibly increases the weight and energy consumption of the athlete, and will also have a certain impact on the performance." Ren Zhenhua said.
In the third test stage, different fabrics are selected according to different parts of the body, such as the fabrics used in the limbs and torso are different from the fabrics of other parts such as the head.
"In the case of speed skating, for example, around the 1990s, my training clothes were made of similar materials to yoga clothes. After 2000, shark-skin-like fabric clothing began to appear, which was coated with a layer of glue on the basis of the fabric and used on the torso, arms and thighs. Ren Zhenhua said.
"In the winter racing category, 0.01 seconds can determine the ownership of a gold medal, and the difference of 0.01 seconds may come from the difference in clothing and equipment." Liu Li, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Fashion, said in an interview that the comprehensive resistance of China's alpine ski clothing at a wind speed of 32m/s is significantly better than that of advanced countries.
In order to achieve the goal of "fast" in speed skating competitions, the R&D team achieves cross-scale collaborative drag reduction through scientific clothing structure and fabric design, effectively reduces resistance, and helps athletes improve their performance on the field.
Liu Li introduced, with reference to the physical characteristics of Chinese athletes, training and competition environment, the project team built a three-dimensional aerodynamic model through fluid dynamics simulation technology, screened and independently developed drag-reducing fabrics on a global scale, designed drag-reduction structures, conducted comprehensive verification of wind tunnels, and carried out customized research and development for athletes. According to the sports posture and speed characteristics of different projects, they prepare high-performance drag-reducing fabrics, and collect and test the basic properties of more than 150 fabrics around the world, which are applied to the design of clothing drag reduction.
It's "robes" and "armor."
Most of the Winter Olympics events are collisional. Like short track speed skating, ice knives are longer than hockey ice knives and pattern ice knives. Athletes who are not careful can get injured. Therefore, whether in training or during the competition, it is necessary to provide good protection for the players.
Winter sports projects are fast, the environment is complex, athletes have a greater risk of injury, there are mainly two types of injuries, collision and stabbing, and a number of domestic research and development units jointly tackle this topic. The R&D team referred to the world's representative fabrics and finally successfully developed an anti-cutting fabric.
"The puncture-proof and cut-proof fabric we develop is a composite of two high-performance yarns that can take into account the performance of super strength, super toughness and super elasticity at the same time." Zhang Mingwen, head of the National Winter Sports Clothing Equipment Research and Development Center, once said in an interview, "Short track speed skating competition suits use anti-cutting fabrics throughout the body, which can fully protect the athletes' bodies." ”
In clothing, one of the differences between short track speed skating and speed skating is that short track speed skating clothing fabrics need to be cut-proof.
"Short track speed skating is a number of athletes on a track to slide, there will be body collisions, falling at the same time, etc., this kind of multi-person fall is more dangerous, people are closer to the ice knife, and even there will be ice knives sliding over the athlete's body." Ren Zhenhua said, "The short track speed skaters around me have experienced cutting injuries in various situations. ”
Therefore, the R&D team referred to more than 100 fabrics from all over the world and finally successfully developed an anti-cutting fabric. The Short Track Speed Skating Race Suit of the Winter Olympics uses the latest 360-degree full-body anti-cutting technology, and the anti-cutting strength is 15 times that of steel wire.
Zhang Mingwen introduced that the speed skating race suit is a composite of two performance yarns, while combining the super strength, super toughness and super elasticity of raw materials, so it can be made into sports fabrics, and it has good puncture resistance and stronger protection.
In alpine skiing, athletes are asked to pass through the flag gate, which inevitably produces some collisions, and many athletes' limbs are often bruised by the soft rod of the flag gate.
It is understood that in the latest alpine ski training protective clothing developed by researchers, a new columnar array impact-resistant structure and a new type of energy-absorbing cushioning material are used, which can effectively reduce the whiplash injury of alpine skiers crossing the flag gate. Short-track speed skating race suits use high-elastic anti-cutting fabrics as a whole to fully protect the athletes' bodies, while considering muscle compression, clothing resistance reduction and other functions, on the basis of maintaining elasticity, anti-cutting performance is improved by 20%-30%.
On February 7, members of the Chinese team checked the ice blades for Li Wenlong (front top) during the match. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ga
It is independent research and development and tailor-made
What stands out is not only the achievements of Chinese speed skaters, but also the speed skating competition uniforms they wear. These colorful competition uniforms are winter sports clothing equipment independently developed and manufactured by the mainland for the first time.
At the end of 2019, in order to provide Chinese athletes with equipment more in line with their own characteristics and prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the National Winter Sports Clothing equipment research and development center was officially established at the Beijing Institute of Fashion.
According to reports, the Beifu team as the lead unit, jointly 6 universities, 4 enterprises joint research, research content involves textile engineering, clothing design and engineering, mechanical engineering (tribology), thermophysics, biomechanics, sports science six disciplines, to solve the "fast, protective, warm, beautiful" four key technical problems, to achieve racing project clothing, protective materials and equipment, low temperature protection materials and equipment, skill project clothing four types of product innovation.
"Previously, when athletes trained in Chongli, the general feedback was that the body temperature was low, reaching about minus 30 degrees Celsius, which affected the athletes' training." Liu Li introduced that there are two main ways to solve the problem of "warmth", one is to improve the fiber warmth rate, and the other is to use active heating technology to convert electrical energy into heat.
"The 'Fortress' integrated heat preservation system integrates windproof, waterproof, breathable and wear-resistant multi-functional." Liu Li introduced that the equipment includes active electric heating face shields, vests, gloves, socks, cushions, etc., and can operate continuously for more than 8 hours in an environment of minus 30 degrees Celsius.
The development of a competition uniform involves knowledge of textiles, clothing design, mechanical engineering, biomechanics, sports and other disciplines. The staff raced against time, and in just three years, they went from being unfamiliar with the field to coming up with the best results.
Ren Zhenhua introduced that in the short track speed skating event, all the competition shoes are designed and made according to the athlete's foot type.
"The position of each athlete's ankle is different, some ankles are thin, some are thick. Other athletes have osteoporosis in their ankles. Ren Zhenhua said, "The R & D team will design exclusive skates according to the different situations of each athlete." ”
In addition, the installation position of the ice blade also varies from person to person. On a daily basis, the area of support for each person on flat ground is the entire width of the foot. But for athletes, after going to ice, the area of the ice knife is the support area of the athlete.
Ren Zhenhua introduced that the width of speed skating and short track speed skating is 1.1mm and 1.2mm wide, but it is challenging to completely hand over the balance of the human body to the ice knife.
"Collecting foot data is an important part of our science and technology Winter Olympics project, which looks simple, but it is actually very exquisite." Ren Zhenhua said that at present, the customized skates of speed skaters mainly rely on the collection of athletes' plaster foot models to achieve, and there are problems such as complex collection process, low efficiency, and long manufacturing time of skates.
Therefore, the R & D personnel combined three-dimensional scanning technology and foot 3D printing technology, collected a large number of foot data of speed skaters, repeatedly corrected, compared and verified the data, and finally achieved a high degree of compatibility between foot data and skate manufacturing. Through foot scans and foot stress tests of athletes, they will establish a database of foot types and soles of speed skaters to provide data support for the independent development of speed skates that are more in line with the ergonomics of mainland athletes. (Hebei Daily reporter Zhao Zezhong)