La fabricaci\u00f3n aditiva se utiliz\u00f3 inicialmente para producir componentes prototipo de pl\u00e1stico y metal para las pruebas aerodin\u00e1micas que se llevaron a cabo para garantizar que las piezas fueran livianas, geom\u00e9tricamente correctas y lo suficientemente fuertes como para soportar la tensi\u00f3n durante las carreras.\u00a0Despu\u00e9s de este proceso de prueba de concepto, el sistema de fabricaci\u00f3n aditiva de metal RenAM 500Q se utiliz\u00f3 para producir piezas de aluminio y titanio, incluido el manillar, para las bicicletas de competici\u00f3n, y cada ciclista las personaliz\u00f3.<\/p>\n
Riding on the HB.T bikes, GBCT won seven Olympic medals, with Laura Kenny CBE becoming the most successful British female Olympian of all time and Jason Kenny CBE becoming the most successful British Olympian ever. Laura won gold in the Madison event alongside Katie Archibald, as well as silver in the women\u2019s team pursuit, while Jason won gold in the men\u2019s keirin and silver in the men\u2019s team sprint.<\/p>\n
Renishaw, who will be providing ongoing support to the GBCT as part of a longer-term partnership, was approached by British Cycling in 2019 to help develop a new track bike.\u00a0Lotus Engineering<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Hope Technology<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0had partnered to design and build the HB.T, with Renishaw being included in the development efforts because of additive manufacturing\u2019s capacity to yield lighter, more complex components that would help improve the bike\u2019s speed.<\/p>\n Additive manufacturing was initially used to produce plastic and metal prototype components for the aerodynamic testing that took place to ensure the parts would be light, geometrically correct and strong enough to endure the strain during races. After this proof of concept process, the RenAM 500Q metal additive manufacturing system was used to produce aluminium and titanium parts, including handlebars, for the competition bikes, with each rider having them customised. The bike was piloted during the opening round of the 2019\/2020 Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup series in Minsk, Belarus in November 2019, and then went on to help GBCT win seven medals, including three golds.<\/p>\n \u201cThe UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) rules for international competitions around forms and seat stays allowed this innovative bicycle, but this presented a huge challenge to make the bike light enough to be fit for Olympic competition, so optimising strength to weight would be key to success,\u201d commented Ben Collins, a Design\/Development Engineer for Renishaw\u2019s Additive Manufacturing Group, who was involved throughout the project. \u201cIt was exciting to see Renishaw\u2019s additive manufacturing expertise play a pivotal part in Great Britain\u2019s push for Olympic gold medals at Tokyo. The team won three gold medals, three silver and one bronze, which was a brilliant achievement for the cyclists and a great showcase for the benefits of additive manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you do something new and brave you have lots of difficulties to overcome and that is where Renishaw has been fantastic,\u201d added Tony Purnell, Head of Technology for British Cycling. \u201cThe Renishaw team has worked with the engineers to do the refinement at break-neck speed. In the past, it would take months to go from the drawing board to a piece that you could try in the test rig or in the velodrome and now we can do it in weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n