Young scientists receive the Schaeffler FAG Foundation's Innovation Award

Uwe Wagner, Head of Research and Development and Member of the Foundation Board; Peter Schuster, managing director of the foundation and head of R&D Industry 4.0; Andreas Hamann, Head of Human Resources Europe and Chairman of the Foundation Board; Prof. Dr. Christian Brecher, Board Member, RWTH Aachen; Prof. Dr. Robert Grebner, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees and President of the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt; Dr. Stefan Spindler, Head of Industry and member of the Foundation Board; and Prof. Dr. Sandro Wartzack, member of the Board of Trustees, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg applaud this year's winners of the Innovation Award 2019 (from left).

Awards for outstanding work in the field of storage technology
Schaeffler FAG Foundation as a motor for knowledge transfer
The foundation has been promoting science, research and teaching in the field of storage technology for over 35 years

Eight young scientists received the Schaeffler FAG Foundation's 2019 Innovation Award for their pioneering work that sets new standards. The prize was awarded in the categories of “doctorate” and “bachelor and master theses”. At the virtual award ceremony, Uwe Wagner, Head of Research and Development and Member of the Foundation Board, and Andreas Hamann, Head of Human Resources Europe and Chairman of the Foundation Board, honored the national and international award winners: Dr.-Ing. Marian Skalecki, Dr.-Ing. Sascha Pörsch, Dr.-Ing. Marcel Tiffe, Dr.-Ing. Katrin Heider, M.Sc. Yong Wang, B.Sc. Benno Sommer, M.Sc. Guilherme Carvalho Gaspar de Barros Bello and M.Sc. Axel Brenzinger.

Schaeffler FAG Foundation as a motor for knowledge transfer

“The foundation is the engine for knowledge, knowledge transfer and the development of potential. It is an expression of corporate and social responsibility. Science, research and teaching at colleges and universities in the field of storage technology are funded ”, Andreas Hamann explained the purpose of the foundation. Since it was founded in 1983, the Schaeffler FAG Foundation has distributed more than one million euros in funding. This time the Innovation Award was endowed with a total of 22,000 euros. In his celebratory address, Uwe Wagner dealt with the topic of innovation at Schaeffler and congratulated the award winners: “Innovations like your work are an investment in the future. It is of essential importance to realize new topics and new ideas and also to bring them onto the road. ”Wagner concluded with Schaeffler's particular innovative strength:“ Regardless of which division you are looking at, our products are based on one competence: in which our components are integrated, to be completely understood and to develop new ideas from this understanding of the system. "

The winners in the doctorate category

The first prize of 6,000 euros went to Dr.-Ing. Marian Skalecki, who is developing a simulation model for the pre-calculation of carbonitriding in his work. The second prize of 3,500 euros went to Dr.-Ing. Sascha Pörsch, who dealt in his dissertation with “Approaches to the extended service life calculation of solid-lubricated rolling bearings”. Another 3,500 euros went to Dr.-Ing. Marcel Tiffe, who with his work "Characterization of basic mechanisms for the simulation of chip formation with the aid of the FEM" showed the further development of the possibilities for the simulation of machining. Dr.-Ing. Katrin Heider, who was also awarded the 2nd prize for her dissertation, examined the energy efficiency of rolling bearings. She specifically analyzed a further developed model for the contacts of the cage under high centripetal accelerations.

The other winners

In the category “Bachelor and Master Theses”, M.Sc. Yong Wang won first prize and 2,500 euros for his master's thesis on the subject of "Validation of stick-slip models for roller bearing dynamics simulation". B.Sc. In his bachelor thesis, Benno Sommer examined the influence of lubricating grease on the formation of bearing currents. With this work he secured 2nd prize and 1,500 euros.

M.Sc. In his master's thesis, Guilherme Carvalho Gaspar de Barros Bello dealt with the topic “Effects on bearing currents in induction motors due to changes in a system consisting of inverter, filter and motor supply cable”. His work contributes to the understanding of the origin of bearing currents in a drive system and was honored with 1,000 euros and the 3rd prize.

A recognition award of 500 euros was given to M.Sc. Axel Brenzinger for his excellent master's thesis "Development of a simulative approach for the design and optimization of a load-oriented 3D fiber winding structure". He dealt with the development of a method for finding the design of spatially wound fiber composite structures using the example of a car wheel bearing.