Warm welcome

to the Chair of Industrial and Automotive Drivetrains (LIFA) - Prof. Dr.-Ing. Manuel Oehler

The LIFA is part of the Institute Product and Service Engineering on the Fakultät für Maschinenbau at the Ruhr-University Bochum.

The Chair of IFA emerged directly from the Chair of Machine Elements, Transmissions and Motor Vehicles (LMGK), which was headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Predki. In 2012, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Tenberge took over the leadership of this chair under the new name. At LIFA, there are currently about 15 research and technical assistants and about 20 student assistants.

The courses offered by the LIFA include basic lectures in the fields of design engineering, machine dynamics and drive technology for students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Furthermore, various in-depth elective modules in the aforementioned as well as in the areas of transmission technology and vehicle dynamics are offered to the bachelor and master students of the department.

The main research and service areas of LIFA are automotive transmissions, planetary gears, spur gears, worm gears and rolling bearing technology. A special focus is on the research of all wear mechanisms in the above-mentioned gears and other machine elements. To this end, a wide range of tests are carried out on numerous test rigs, the results of which are used to develop optimized design algorithms. Further key points are: Design of powertrains and powertrain components; dynamic simulation of entire powertrains; conception and testing of improved calculation algorithms for the design and dimensioning of powertrains; conception, construction and testing of conventional and alternative vehicle transmissions for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and special vehicles; support in the further development of powertrain systems.