TALAMONA – It's almost astonishing to think that in this small hamlet surrounded by the Valtellina mountains, where nature still reigns supreme and the greenery enchants the eyes, there is one of the most cutting-edge and unique tools in the world of cycling. However, MET Helmets Over the years, he has accustomed us to this characteristic of his: looking forward.
The helmet manufacturing company has aimed to innovate and renew. It did so again this time, by building a wind tunnel inside its own facility. Opening a simple door leads into a huge warehouse, with a central staircase leading to a raised area containing all the control devices. There's a double desk where technicians can monitor the work and fine-tune the wind tunnel's possible settings (photo by Ulysse Daessle).
Specially designed
Let us raise our eyes and here it is in front of us: The tubeThis is the name chosen by MET to identify one of its most innovative and expensive machines. A huge investment, which led to a redevelopment of the area and several works.
«The choice of the name is easy to understand – says Matteo Tenni, Project Manager – the glass window shows us the internal test chamber. At the front is a pusher turbine with a power of 110 kilowatts., capable of expelling air at up to 100 kilometers per hour. It was decided to increase this figure to leave some margin compared to the speeds normally reached on a bicycle.
«The Tube was created specifically for the bike, we relied on an external agency specialized in these systems. We as MET have provided targets in terms of objectives, a long but fruitful period that led to important optimizations. Environmental conditions have a great influence, over a day of testing there are parameters that change, such as the air density and the variation in temperature inside the test chamber."
Greater depth of development
Being able to internalize a development process such as that of the wind tunnel It is a fundamental step to ensure constant and continuous improvement of the products MET HelmetsAll the research and design work is done internally; the wind tunnel is the final step in this direction. Now every prototype can be tested, improved and printed inside the Talamona factory.
«Previously – Matteo Tenni continues – we relied on other laboratories, there are very good ones throughout Europe. But things aren't always comfortableYou have to book days, and it's not easy to have so many in a row, and the costs were not to be underestimated. Practically speaking, you go once and do the necessary tests. but if there is something to optimize you have to go home and make the changes to the designOnce everything is sorted out, you have to book another slot and repeat the tests. What happened? Often, the second round of tests stopped, both for time and investment reasons.
Like a summary, but tailor-made
«This wind tunnel – continues Tenni – was intended to be a summary of what is found in other external structures: tests with bike, athlete and helmet, or with a dummy head to carry out studies on aerodynamics or heat dissipationOur wind tunnel, The Tube, is capable of all of this. From our perspective, the advantage is clear: we essentially have free access to everything. When a product has not yet been produced on a large scale, anything goes, all possible experiments can be done.This makes it possible to investigate avenues that, if we were to rely on external sources, would be impossible due to time and costs."
The tests
Thanks to the availability of the MET engineers we were able to attend a day of testing. The protagonists were the helmets used by the UAE Team Emirates – XRGWe saw first-hand the data on the new time trial model: the Drone II. The head, but also the body and legs, are those of Alessandro Covi. The Lombard rider carried out several tests in order to provide precise data that can give substance to the development and design work of these new products.
«We subjected Covi – concludes Matteo Tenni – to two tests during which he wore the two models dedicated to the time trial. The first with the Drone helmet and the second with the Drone IIThe turbine blew air at 50 kilometers per hour and the results showed a saving of five watts by switching from the Drone to the Drone II. In these terms, the use of an internal wind tunnel allows us to have greater contact with the athletes and to be able to involve them even more in the development processes."
