Three new professorships form the scientific foundation of the new Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry and Science
Approximately eight million euros is being made available to the 14 academic chairs at TU Berlin participating in the three current research projects of the Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry and Science (WvSC). Funding comes from grants provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as well as money provided by the state of Berlin. A total of 30 million euros will be made available for the three projects over the next three years. In addition to the project funding, three new professorships will also be created at TU Berlin from funds provided by the state of Berlin: Design for Additive Manufacturing at Faculty V - Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Materials for Additive Manufacturing at Faculty III - Process Sciences, and Mathematical Modeling of Industrial Life Cycles at Faculty II - Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
Three projects are currently funded at the WvSC: Electrical Drives (EA), High Temperature Applications (HTA) and Maintenance Repair & Overhaul (MRO). In addition to Siemens AG, Siemens Energy and TU Berlin, eight further partners from industry in Berlin, a number of Fraunhofer Society institutes and the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung are also involved in the projects. The main objective of the Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry and Science is the restructuring of production engineering in Berlin. This objective was also very clearly defined in the three projects funded to date. All the projects used the co-creation and co-location approach whereby all participating institutions are closely interconnected with each other and researchers from TU Berlin and the other institutions have regular access to production locations for their research. “We anticipate that this close interdisciplinary cooperation will give rise to completely new and interesting research questions,” says Professor Dr.-Ing. Dietmar Göhlich, head of the Chair of Methods of Technical Engineering and Mechatronics at TU Berlin and member of the board of the Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry and Science.
Technische Universität Berlin is central cooperation partner
Researchers at TU Berlin are involved in all three projects. As an example, academic chairs working in the areas of industrial information technology, computer science and numerical mathematics are conducting cross-project research on digital twins. The aim is to create a complete digital twin from design to production all the way through to the life cycle of a capital good. This kind of digital twin could be used for wear simulation and predictive maintenance in the context of the Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul project, or for calculating availability guarantees - a central concern in critical infrastructures such as energy supply.
A holistic approach to additive manufacturing
The goal of the Electrical Drives (EA) project is to create new materials for high voltage insulation. These new materials are to be additively manufactured while still meeting the requirements for use as insulation materials in electrical installations. This will enable completely new design concepts for electrical installations. TU Berlin is also well represented in this project with several academic chairs (Advanced Ceramic Materials, Polymer Materials and Technologies, Coating Technology, and High Voltage Engineering) involved.
The High Temperature Applications project takes a holistic view of additive manufacturing. Design guidelines and selection criteria for additively manufactured components are developed by the Chair of Methods of Technical Engineering and Mechatronics. Parallel to this, the Chair of Machine Tools and Factory Management researches the new machine designs necessary for the effective production of these components At the same time, the Chair of Materials Engineering ensures the quality and lasting resilience of the new components in conjunction with the new materials.
Research topics to become an integral long-term feature of degree programs
In addition to this wide range of research projects, three new professorships will also be created at TU Berlin from funding provided by the state of Berlin. The new professorships shortly to be advertised are: Design for Additive Manufacturing at Faculty V - Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Materials for Additive Manufacturing at Faculty III - Process Sciences, and Mathematical Modeling of Industrial Life Cycles at Faculty II - Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
These three new professorships form the scientific foundation for the fields of digitalization, additive manufacturing and new materials. The objective is to also integrate these topics long-term into the degree programs and training of future experts.
The professorships will be co-located in Siemensstadt to enable them to benefit from the industrial infrastructure and options for informal exchange and communication. Financing from the state of Berlin ensures the independence of research and teaching. The exact form the cooperation with the WvSC then takes is at the discretion of the three appointed professors.
