Customer
In view of the qualification and evolution of their product, our client, a French manufacturer of sporting goods, was looking for a complete solution for testing and rating their products, allowing a classification according to simple and easily understandable criteria.
Tested product
Swimming fins
Swimming accessory. Gives the swimmer the ability to move through the water with greater speed and ease.
Objective
Find a technical solution that avoids the need for a full-scale test (floating bipalm robot "swimming" in a pool, etc.), while guaranteeing accurate measurements and high reproducibility of the tests. These tests should be able to classify swimming fins according to criterias which can be match with human swimming feelings.
Problematic issues
How to design test equipment to qualify fins on efficiency and acceleration criteria with an ergonomic system and a simple and quick implementation
Solution and result
LF Technologies has designed a small volume pool where only one leg is represented. The pool is oblong in shape and does not exceed 4 metres in length and 1.5 metres in width. Its shape allows water to circulate with little effort.
Two keels equipped with trolleys simulate a human leg. By varying the position of the trolleys, it is possible to simulate several leg sizes.
The water circulation is done thanks to propellers to simulate the diver's speed of advance in the water.
LF Technologies has proposed a system to qualify the fin alone and to measure its performance in different finning configurations. The measurements carried out make it possible to characterise and classify the fins tested according to objective criteria of thrust force, swimming power and efficiency.
