Sports equipment designers and manufacturers are extremely effective at bringing products to market. By gaining insights into the performance of their equipment through market research, elite athletes, and product innovation, sports equipment manufacturers are able to reach markets much faster than in many other industries. The Ray Ewry Sports Engineering Center will further reduce this time by using Purdue’s equipment, facilities, and digital design and manufacturing tools.

An example of this fast prototyping, Promptotyping™, is the 3D-printing of continuous fiber for a bicycle crank, which was fabricated in under three minutes. Another example is in competitive cycling where aerodynamic drag represents more than two-thirds of the resistance profile of the bicycle. Cost reduction in prototyping and testing for performance optimization requires advanced simulation tools, which the RESEC team can provide.

Recently, virtual cycling has become widely adopted as a viable remote competition platform for athletes to compete virtually using the power output measured from their bike trainer. Accurate power measurement and trainer resistance control are critical to ensure a level playing field among the athletes, and with a variety of cycling trainers on the market, each brand and model must be verified to ensure the integrity of the sport. RESEC has developed equipment to homologate competition systems in collaboration with major stakeholders.