RESEARCH History You will find the figures

mentioned in this article in the German issue of ATZ 9/2004 beginning on page 822.

100 Jahre Kraftfahrzeugtechnik an der Technischen Universität Dresden

100 Years of Automotive Engineering at the Dresden University of Technology

By Horst Brunner

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The Dresden University of Technology has been carrying out research and teaching in the field of automotive engineering for 100 years. The first course on the dynamometric testing of transmissions and motor vehicles was offered in 1904. In a shortened version of his speech presented on the occasion of the anniversary, Professor Dr.-Ing. habil. Horst Brunner, Director of the Chair of Automotive Engineering and Drive Technology at the Institute for Internal Combustion Engines of the Technical University of Dresden, looks back on the history of the Institute and acknowledges the work of its main protagonists.

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RESEARCH

1898 – Dresden Chair of Mechanical Engineering

Professor Hermann Scheit is regarded as the father of automotive development in Dresden. In 1898, Hermann Scheit took over the Dresden Chair of Mechanical Engineering from Richard Stribeck. Before he came to Dresden, Scheit had worked in the area of marine engineering. He was Captain Lieutenant in the Imperial Marine Construction Authority (Kaiserliche Marinebauinspektion) and Professor at the Marine Academy in Kiel. Hermann Scheit was a farsighted man of action. On his initiative, the Royal Saxon Mechanical-Technical Testing Institute (Königlich Sächsische Mechanisch-Technische Versuchsanstalt) was founded around 1900. In 1901, this institute began to work for the public on a larger scale, and also began to work commercially. Manufacturers and authorities especially commissioned the testing of construction materials, metals and designs, and later this also included automotive components and entire motor vehicles, Figure 1. Most orders to the motor vehicle and transmission department came from the young automotive industry, Figure 2. 1904 – First Lecture on Motor Vehicle Engineering

The first lecture on motor vehicle engineering was held in Dresden in 1904. In fact, it was a practical class at the MechanicalTechnical Testing Institute on the subject of "Dynamometric Testing of Transmissions and Motor Vehicles“. Another milestone was the foundation of the Technical Testing Institute for Motor Vehicles (Technische Prüfstelle für den Kraftfahrzeugverkehr) in 1917. This was an expert authority on the registration of motor vehicles, the examination of drivers and the issuing of registration papers and driving licenses. Hermann Scheit died in Dresden in 1916 at the age of only 56. By establishing automotive engineering as a recognised discipline, he set a milestone in the history of the Technical University of Dresden. Otto Wawrziniok, a student of Scheit, became his successor in 1918. He was appointed Professor for automotive engineering and became director of the newly founded Institute of Automotive Engineering. Otto Wawrziniok had studied mechanical engineering in Berlin-Charlottenburg and Dresden and worked as an assistant for machine construction between 1898 and 1902. Afterwards, he worked as an adjunct at the Royal Saxon Mechanical-Technical Testing Institute.

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The curriculum offered by Professor Wawrziniok in 1921 comprised lectures in the areas of fuels and carburettors, the design and operation of motor vehicles, motor vehicle testing and motor vehicles and driving instruction. In 1928, the internal combustion engine also became one of the subjects in this series of lectures. Professor Wawrziniok had a wide range of scientific interests. The overview given below clearly testifies to this, Figure 3. 1936 – Construction of a Modern Building

1936 saw the beginning of construction work on a modern building for the Institute of Automotive Engineering, for which Otto Wawrziniok provided the plans. The building was formally opened in 1939, Title Figure. It is the building that all graduates of the automotive engineering programme have known since then and which is still used today. Professor Wawrziniok took his own life in 1934, at the age of 61. Professor Georg Beck was appointed his successor in 1936. In the meantime, Professor Nägel took over the management of the chair and the institute. It is important to note that work on engine development was not only carried out at the Institute of Automotive Engineering but also at other chairs of Dresden University, above all at the Machine Laboratory. Among the scientists involved were Adolf Nägel, Franz Karl Kutzbach and Hans List. Under the direction of Georg Beck, teaching and research in automotive engineering were largely adapted to the needs of military applications. Publications on tracked vehicle systems, combustion chambers for rocket engines, filter technology and wear research confirm this. Beck was succeeded by Robert Eberan von Eberhorst, who was born in Vienna in 1902. He was elected to the Professorship of Automotive Engineering in 1941 and became director of the Institute and of the Testing Institute for Motor Vehicles in the same year. Eberan von Eberhorst was a student of Otto Wawrziniok and had worked as the head of the racing engines testing department of Auto Union in Zwickau before he became a professor in Dresden. At that time, research at the Dresden Institute was mainly focused on the gas exchange process of high-performance engines, as well as on silencers and brake testing. Professor Eberan extended the curriculum by adding courses in lightweight engines and motor vehicles and engine design. After the war, Professor Eberan left the devastated city of Dresden and returned to

History

Austria. During the air raids in February 1945, all laboratory halls were destroyed and only the main building remained intact. 1948 – Resumption of Teaching

Chief engineer Kurt Richter began the reconstruction work together with a few colleagues and students. In May 1945, the Technical Testing Institute was already able to resume work and a university car pool was founded with some outdated vehicles. In 1948, when Professor Alfred Jante was appointed to the Chair of Automotive Engineering and became Director of the Institute of Automotive Engineering, the institute resumed its normal teaching schedule. Alfred Jante had studied mechanical engineering in Aachen and worked as a test engineer at Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz. He was the Technical Director of the machine manufacturer Heise in Böhlitz-Ehrenberg near Leipzig after World War II, and worked as a lecturer at the Engineering College in Leipzig. For a short time, he was a mathematics teacher at the Thomas School in Leipzig, before becoming Director of the Transport Division of the then still existing State Ministry of Saxony. 1954 – Institute of Automotive Engineering (IVK)

Professor Jante concentrated all fields of internal combustion engine research carried out at the Technical University of Dresden in the Institute of Automotive Engineering. This fact was reflected by the renaming of the Institute of Automotive Engineering as the Institute of Internal Combustion Engines and Motor Vehicles (IVK) in 1954. Professor Jante arranged the scientific tasks into four divisions: vehicles, petrol engines, diesel engines and tractors. The curriculum took equal account of the internal combustion engine and the vehicle. The work of the engineer Eugen Frick, who was greatly committed to the structural training of students in lectures and practical course over many decades, is worthy of special mention here. As a man of foresight, Alfred Jante began studying aspects of traffic planning at a very early stage. Engine research focused on fuel-saving devices and methods, scavenging, mixture preparation, the supercharging of two-stroke engines, thermodynamic processes of internal combustion engines or critical issues of partial load and supercharging, as well as on the mixture formation for petrol engines and carburettor theory. Vehicle research concentrated

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History

on vehicle mechanics, Figure 4, gear mechanism design, differential mechanics, fundamentals of driving stability, the dimensioning and calculation of vehicle brakes and the mechanics of tyres and wheel suspension. This list is completed by works on the design of farm tractors, the efficiency of plough power transmission and the gearbox ratios of agricultural tractors. Professor Jante was one of the few talented engineers who successfully researched and taught across the whole area of internal combustion engines and automotive engineering. In honour of his achievements, the building that houses the IVK today was named the Jante Building in 1993. The Scientific Society for Motor Vehicle and Engine Technology (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Kraftfahrzeug- und Motorentechnik – WKM) has been granting excellent young engineers the Kamm Jante Medal since the year 2000. Another step in the development of the Institute was the appointment of Dr.-Ing. Konrad Hofmann as a lecturer for agricultural tractors in 1963. Academic Isolation from West Germany in the 1960s

After the building of the wall in the GDR in 1961, Professor Jante came increasingly into conflict with the political leaders. His attempts to break the academic isolation from the scientific community in West Germany in the 1960s by inviting well-known colleagues to conferences held at the IVK will be well remembered. Among them were the professors Pischinger, Hussmann, Fiala and Meurer. A decisive turning point in the history of the Institute was the reformation of the GDR higher education system in 1968. This reformation was meant to break the power of the professorial chairs and to further the indoctrination of the universities. In the course of this reformation, the IVK lost its independence and became part of the section Motor Vehicles, Agricultural Equipment and Materials Handling. A new subdivision was Scientific Areas. The building of the IVK then housed the Scientific Area of Internal Combustion Engines and Motor Vehicles under the directorship of Professor Jante and the Scientific Area of Tractors and Chassis for Agricultural Machines, which was newly founded when Konrad Hofmann was appointed professor of this area, which was now integrated into the specialisation Agricultural Equipment. In 1969, Dr.-Ing. Martin Jahn was appointed university lecturer in the area of Internal Combustion Engines and Motor Ve-

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hicles, as were Dr.-Ing. Augustin Hoche and Dr.-Ing. Friedrich Müller in 1972. In 1973, Professor Jante retired and Dr. Hoche took over the directorship of the area, and was appointed to the chair in 1977. From then, the academic structure was as follows: diesel engines under Professor Hoche, petrol engines under Dr. Müller and motor vehicles under Dr. Jahn. Professor Hoche's work was focused on direct injection in diesel engines, the combustion process and the gas exchange process. Under the directorship of Dr. Müller, work was carried out on improving the two-stroke engine, as well as on ignition and carburettor theory. It was also Müller who introduced a first lecture on automotive electrics and electronics. Jahn was the institute's authority on brakes. Professor Hofmann was responsible for working on hydrostatic wheel drives, the steering stability of vehicles with rearwheel steering, driving on soft or loose ground, and on Comprex supercharging of diesel engines and on the product line design of diesel engines. Many generations of students will remember the good structural training they received when solving practice-related tasks. After the Political Change

The political change in the GDR resulted in some disorderliness and a new beginning in the sector of automotive engineering, as everywhere else. In May 1990, Dr.-Ing. habil. Martin Jahn was elected by all members of the Institute and appointed director. Professor Hofmann retired in 1990. In January 1991, Dr.-Ing. habil. Horst Brunner was appointed to the Chair of Drive Technology, becoming Jahn's successor, and in March 1991 he was elected vice-chancellor for Education and Training at the Technical University of Dresden. When another higher education reform was carried out in 1991, the sections in Dresden were dissolved and the institutes re-established. This also involved a new beginning for the Institute of Internal Combustion Engines and Motor Vehicles (IVK), which was then formed by the Chair of Internal Combustion Engines and Motor Vehicles (Jahn) and the Chair of Drive Technology (Brunner). In 1992, the Act of the Renewal of the Higher Education System in Saxony (Sächsisches Hochschulerneuerungsgesetz) demanded that all scientific and non-scientific positions were advertised and re-filled. The IVK advertised three professorial chairs: Motor Vehicle Engineering and Drive Technology (filled in 1992 by Professor Brunner), Automotive Electrics and Elec-

tronics (filled in 1993 by Professor Reuss) and Internal Combustion Engines (filled in 1996 by Professor Zellbeck). Professor Müller held the professorial chair of Internal Combustion Engines from 1992, and was awarded the professorial title. After the sudden death of Prof. Jahn in 1992, Professor Müller also became the acting head of the Institute. From then on, funding from third party sources became the new formula. It took great effort to modernise and redesign the experimental basis after the political breakdown in 1989. With the support of the university administration, the necessary construction work and re-equipment were carried out, resulting in a competitive place of academic work in this specific area. Main Research Areas

The main research areas of the Chair of Internal Combustion Engines are: injection systems, combustion processes, automatic control strategies, state monitoring of diagnosis, supercharging, emission, efficiency factor and dynamic behaviour. The Chair of Motor Vehicle Engineering and Drive Technology currently concentrates on the following research tasks: drive technology, brakes, tyres, chassis, accident research, passive safety and the vehicle as a whole. The main scientific tasks of the Chair of Automotive Electrics and Electronics, which was established after the political changes in 1989, are in the areas of sensors, actuators, control devices and their implementation into the vehicle networks. The Institute of Internal Combustion Engines and Motor Vehicles in Dresden has reached modern times. This institute trains well-prepared engineers for the German motor vehicle industry, thus contributing to the technological progress of this industrial sector. ■

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