Mechanical Engineering Day/Institute Fair in AUDIMAX
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at KIT is organizing a Mechanical Engineering Day on Friday, July 19, 2013 as a forum and networking event for Karlsruhe's mechanical engineering institutes, partnering industrial and research companies and students.
The Chair of Mobile Machinery will once again be taking part in the event with exhibits and employees who are keen to engage in discussion and introduce future Master's students to the institute and the MOBIMA courses.
You can find the program under this LINK http://www.mach.kit.edu/download/Programm_Maschinenbautag_Internet.pdf
Whitsun excursion 2013 - Visiting Kramer, ZF and Bosch Rexroth
As part of this year's excursion week, around 30 students and employees from the Chair of Mobile Machinery spent three days between the Lake Constance region and Ulm. The program included visits to the companies Kramer Wacker Neuson in Pfullendorf, ZF in Friedrichshafen and Bosch Rexroth in Ulm. We received a very friendly welcome from the companies and were able to find out all about the company structures, opportunities for internships, dissertations and career entry in addition to a wide range of factory tours. Our physical well-being was also well catered for. Whether in the company's own canteen, the country inn or the Ulmer Innenstatt, there was something for everyone. In addition to the interesting insights into the companies we visited, we will certainly remember the live demonstrations of various wheel loaders on steep slopes, state-of-the-art test rigs and various construction vehicles, as well as an extraordinary guided tour of Ulm. Many thanks to everyone involved, especially the company representatives from the respective specialist departments for the in-depth insights into their daily working environment!
Rückblick auf die Fachtagung „Mobile Machines – Sicherheit und Fahrerassistenz für mobile Arbeitsmaschinen“ vom 14. und 15. Mai 2013 in Karlsruhe-Ettlingen
With a significant increase to over 110 participants, the interest in the symposium was impressively confirmed. The capacities of the conference facilities were thus completely exhausted.
Safety issues relating to mobile machinery and driver assistance systems were the focus of the first day. In addition to an overview of standards and practical examples, the topic of steer-by-wire was the subject of several presentations. It became clear that these control systems have now reached a safe level and can be found in practice.
The contribution to "Vision Zero", which aims to achieve accident-free driving, was also discussed intensively.
New operating concepts as well as safety and data management were the focus of the presentations on the second day. Participants and speakers agreed that products from the consumer industry cannot be used directly in machines. Nevertheless, a presentation on intuitive operating concepts demonstrated the trend towards rethinking traditional structures.
The conference was accompanied by a trade exhibition. Here, new technologies were discussed intensively, particularly during the breaks, and one or two ideas were certainly generated.
At the end of the presentations, a tour of the John Deere plants in Mannheim was offered, which the majority of conference visitors took advantage of. In addition to a tour and a visit to the final assembly line, experts from various areas of the company were available to answer questions.
All in all, it was a successful conference, which confirms the organizers' decision to continue the conference series in 2015.
Review of the symposium "Hybrid drives for mobile machinery" on February 19 and 20, 2013 in Karlsruhe
The 4th "Hybrid Drives for Mobile Machinery" symposium, which has now established itself as a recognized forum in the field of mobile machinery, took place on 19/20 February. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Marcus Geimer was able to welcome over 260 experts from industry and science, and the event the evening before was already used for a lively cross-company meeting with professional exchange in a convivial atmosphere. The conference was organized by the Chair of Mobile Machinery at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in cooperation with the VDMA and the Scientific Association for Mobile Machinery.
While the focus at the beginning of the conference in 2007 was on concepts and ideas, this conference reported on successfully implemented prototypes and design tools for hybrid machines.
After Mr. Treusch from Daimler AG had opened the conference with an overview lecture entitled Hybrid at Daimler Trucks - Technology for the World, research results on the system design and operating strategy of mobile machinery were presented in lectures by the Technical University of Munich and the RWTH Aachen. This was followed by contributions from AGCO GmbH, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and IAV GmbH on assessing the potential of hybridized machines. After the lunch break, contributions on simulation and modeling from TU Kaiserslautern, Claas Industrietechnik GmbH and Liebherr-France SAS showed the current status of calculation tools and new electric drive solutions were presented. Finally, Jetter AG, Konecranes GmbH and TU Dresden reported on their practical experience with hybridized machines before Prof. Geimer closed the 4th symposium with his closing remarks.
In conclusion, it can certainly be said that hybrid technologies have established themselves as the state of the art on the market today. In addition, the conference proceedings produced to accompany the conference can be obtained from KIT Scientific Publishing (ISBN 978-3-86644-970-1).