Ski innovation helped by versatile digital drives

Mantec in Italy has developed a form-grinder which uses Control Techniques Unidrives and Unimotors to drive 4 servo axes that combine to grind tiny profiles into skis.

Mantec, a high tech company located at Podenzano on the outskirts of Milan, is doing for skiing performance what telemetry has done for Formula 1 racing.

The company has developed a form-grinder which uses Control Techniques Unidrives and Unimotors to drive 4 servo axes that combine to grind tiny profiles into skis.

The profiles are uniquely matched to the type of snow and the discipline (e.g downhill or slalom).

As a result ski performance is dramatically improved.

In addition to improving ski performance overall, Mantec's revolutionary machine addresses the drawbacks associated with the conventional method of ensuring ski performance: waxing.

Even today when snow properties change, through increased humidity, for example, the existing wax on a ski has to be removed and replaced with another having the required properties.

This is a complicated and time consuming process at best.

In contrast, Mantec's machine addresses the changed conditions with a new matched profile which can be ground into the ski in real time.

This operation does not deplete the ski because the depth of the grooves is so small that, even if the ski is reground regularly, its surface is not reduced by more than the usual wear which occurs when waxing.

The initial beneficiaries of Mantec's new profile grinder have been the Italian men and women cross country skiing teams.

Both have tested the technology and used it successfully to win a number of medals in major skiing events.

However, the many benefits of mini-form grinding mean that it is sure to find a place in amateur skiing too, doing away with the tedious problems of waxing when on holiday.

Guiseppe Moroni, the inventor and designer of the profile grinder, is in no doubt that his new machine will benefit the professional and amateur skier alike.

"In a few years time every ski station will have one and profile grinding will be as popular as the current process of waxing and edging skis," he said.

Anyone who likes skiing can see immediately the difference between a normal ski (i.e one that has been waxed) and a ski that has been laminated by our machine." "The key to the performance improvements we achieve is in the finish.

The ski surface and the snow are like two pieces of glass, with the friction between virtually zero.

However, if one small drop of water is introduced between the surfaces, the friction automatically becomes higher.

Consequently, the role of our machine is to eliminate every small drop of water that is creating friction." Mantec's machine achieves this ideal state with a fine profile consisting of very close linear or curved grooves.

The grooves can vary in width and depth, their geometry being decisive for the ski's properties.

Crucial to the configuration of the profile is Mantec's own unique algorithm.

This handles interpolation of the four servo axes which make up the machine.

The axes themselves are all linear, each being controlled by a Control Techniques Unidrive, working in servo mode, and a Unimotor servomotor.

The totally digital nature of the system, with the Unidrives communicating to a CNC controller via UD70 soft logic interface modules, means that there is no limit to the number of profiles that Mantec's machine can produce.

This was one of the major advantages of selecting the Control Techniques drive/motor combination, according to Mantec Director, Rinaldo Moroni.

"With a digital set-up we are sure that if a ski station stores 1000 programs, which are basically unique profiles, then those programs will be retrievable when they are required, he said.

"And having retrieved them we need an absolutely reliable and high performance drive system to carry them out.

Control Techniques equipment meets both of these criteria." "We have worked with Control Techniques over a number of years and have a true technology partnership.

We have a good exchange of ideas and we trust their equipment.

Therefore, when it came time specify equipment for the new machine our choice was clear.

In this case the choice was made easier because Control Techniques equipment is already used in ski resorts, on artificial snow machines.

Two other factors in Control Techniques favour were its world-wide support network and 5 year gold product warranty, We envisage a big export future for the ski machine, therefore these are very important to us.".

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