Draft:Gear Research Center

The Gear Research Center (abbreviation: FZG acc. to German Forschungsstelle für Zahnräder und Getriebesysteme), the chair of machine elements at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), is a Research Institute for drive system technology in the field of mechanical engineering. Leading full professor is Karsten Stahl.

History
The research center was founded in 1951 by Gustav Niemann, who began pioneering work in the research fields of gears and transmissions construction. These research areas were primarily maintained under Hans Winter, who succeeded Niemann in October 1968. Bernd-Robert Höhn succeeded Hans Winter as full professor of the chair of machine elements at the TUM in October 1989. Under his leadership, previous research activities were expanded to include continuously variable transmissions and autarkic Hybrid drive for Motor vehicles. Since 2011, the chair has been headed by Karsten Stahl.

FZG forms the center of excellence for issues related to mechanical drive system technology at the School of Engineering and Design (formerly "Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) of the TUM. Both in research and development and in standardization, FZG plays a central role nationally and internationally in the field of drive and transmission technology.

The research projects of FZG range from theoretically oriented basic research to application-oriented experimental work. The projects are financed and supported by various organizations. The majority of projects is initiated, financed and supervised by the "Forschungsvereinigung Antriebstechnik e.V." (FVA), mostly together with the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen" (AiF). Other research partners include the German Research Foundation (DFG), the "Bayrische Forschungsstiftung", the DGMK, the "Forschungsvereinigung Verbrennungskraftmaschinen" (FVV) or "FOSTA" (steel research). In addition, application-oriented projects are requested and commissioned directly by the industry.

Every two years the VDI International Conference on Gears, the VDI International Conference on Gear Production, and the VDI International Conference on High Performance Plastic Gears are held at FZG.

Research
Theoretical and experimental studies on gear components and propulsion systems form the essential research topics at the Gear Research Center.



Components
An essential part of the research activities at FZG examines the components of gearboxes. These include particular
 * gears (cylindrical gears, planetary gears, bevel gears and hypoid gears, worm drives),
 * synchronization,
 * multi-disc clutches and
 * rolling-element bearing.

Drive systems / electromechanical drives
In addition to the components, the focus is also on the design, simulation and experimental investigation of various drive systems and their implementation in real vehicle prototypes and various applications.

Areas of focus
The components and drive systems / electromechanical drives are examined at FZG with a focus on the following criteria:
 * load capacity
 * EHL-/Tribological contact
 * Efficiency
 * Noise and Vibration / NVH
 * Alternative gear-materials, composites and coatings
 * Fatigue Life Analysis

Simulation and computer programs
For many decades, computer programs have been developed at FZG for many research topics. Some exemplary programs are specified in the following passages:

In addition, computational studies are conducted by using finite element method (FEM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

With funds of the "Forschungsvereinigung Antriebstechnik e.V." (FVA) the FVA IT center was established at the FZG. This center serves the member companies as a partner and as a center of excellence in the field of computer application in drive technology. Many FVA computer programs for design and simulation of driveline elements are integrated into the FVAWorkbench and are checked and distributed by the FZG.

Projects and Dissertations
Various projects and research projects since 1951 have resulted in 240 dissertations at FZG (31. March 2022).

Project cooperations (extract)

 * MUTE
 * Visio.M
 * Speed2E
 * Speed4E
 * Rolls-Royce UltraFan®-Triebwerk
 * HiPerComp
 * Massiver Leichtbau

Publications
Since foundation of FZG in 1951, plenty of publications in various journals, conference proceedings or research platforms have been aired. Several are listed in scientific databases like Scopus(312 publications, 20. Februar 2019).

Weblinks

 * homepage of FZG