News and Events
Jan 2010
Newsletter - Transmissions
Volume #5, 2009 - Gear Research Institute's Transmissions Newsletter (read online)
Sep 2009
News
The Board of the Gear Research Institute met on September 16 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN. One of the significant decisions at the meeting was to initiate a campaign to increase the corporate membership of the Institute and utilize the membership fee to support research experiences for undergraduates. Please see the member section for more details.
Aug 2009
News
The Gear Research Institute is pleased to announce the Dr. Avinash Singh from General Motors has joined the Board of Trustees as a representative from the ASME. (Avinash Singh's bio)
Jul 2009
Newsletter - Transmissions
Volume #4, 2009 - Gear Research Institute's Transmissions Newsletter (read online)
Apr 2009
News
Q&A with Suren Rao, Managing Director, Gear Research Institute, published in Gear Solutions magazine (read online)
Courtesy of Gear Solutions magazine, www.gearsolutions.com
Mar 2009
Newsletter - Transmissions
Volume #3, 2009 - Gear Research Institute's Transmissions Newsletter (read online)
Jan 2009
News
The American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) has nominated Charlie Fischer to the Gear Research Institute's Board of Trustees. Charlie Fischer is Vice President of AGMA’s Technical Division. He joined AGMA in 1994 after a nineteen-year career with a major gear manufacturer, where he worked in engineering, field service, and assembly/test departments. He is currently responsible for oversight of all AGMA Technical Committees. In addition, he serves as Secretary of ISO TC60, the Technical Committee responsible for all international gear related standards. He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and Master of Administrative Science degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Dec 2008
News
On his retirement from Gleason Corporation at the end of this year, Gary Kimmet has resigned from the Board of Trustees of the Gear Research Institute. Gary represented the AGMA on the Board and a replacement for him is being considered by the AGMA and should be announced soon.
Meanwhile, Sam Haines, President of Gear Motions of Syracuse New York, was elected to replace Gary Kimmet at the meeting of the Board of Trustees in August. On his assumption of the position of President, Sam thanked Gary and acknowledged his invaluable service to the Gear Research Institute. Jack Masseth of Caterpillar was elected to replace Sam Haines as Secretary and Al Swiglo was reelected as the Institute's Treasurer. (Sam Haines' bio)
Sept 2008
Newsletter - Transmissions
Volume #2, 2008 - Gear Research Institute's Transmissions Newsletter (read online)
July 2008
News
UCT Defense of Stuart, FL and Flender of Germany became the latest, single-client sponsors of the Gear Research Institute. GRI will assist UCT Defense in evaluating coatings designed for gear applications. For Flender and its United States subsidiary Winergy of Illinois, GRI will conduct a program to evaluate strength characteristics of gears made from a variety of steels.
June 2008
News
After many years of service to the Gear Research Institute as a member of its Board of Trustees, including its President (2003-2007), Mr. William Bradley has stepped down from the Board. Mr. Bradley retired from the AGMA last year. In his place the AGMA has nominated Mr. Robert Wasilewski, Design Engineering Manager of Arrow Gear Company of Downers Grove, IL to the Board.
Mr. Wasilewski has been employed at Arrow Gear since 1976. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois (1975). Mr. Wasilewski’s responsibilities at Arrow Gear include the design and application of spur, helical, spiral, Zerol, hypoid and straight bevel gears and gear boxes. He also directs the company’s failure analysis studies. He is a member of the Technical Division Executive Council for the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA). In 1990 he was appointed chairman of the Bevel Gearing Committee for AGMA. He has been an active member of the AGMA Computer Programming Committee since 2000 as well as an observer on several other AGMA committees.
In 1991, the AGMA presented Mr. Wasilewski with a Technical Division Executive Committee award for his contributions to gear design and utilization.
May 2008
Board of Trustees Meeting
The next meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Gear Research Institute is scheduled to be held at the Applied Research Laboratory of The Pennsylvania State University on August 4, 2008. The Annual Meeting of the Institute will also be held on that day. Members interested in attending the Annual Meeting should contact the Managing Director of the Institute.
April 2008
Newsletter - Transmissions
Volume #1, 2008 - Gear Research Institute's Transmissions Newsletter (read online)
Article - "Methodology for Translating Single-Tooth Bending Fatigue Data to be Comparable to Running Gear Data" published in Gear Technology (read article)
July 2007
Aerospace Bloc
The Steering Committee of the Aerospace Bloc of the Gear Research Institute will meet at the Applied Research Laboratory of The Pennsylvania State University on August 23. While each sponsor of this Bloc is invited to send many individuals to attend the meeting, they nominate one individual as its representative on the Steering Committee. This committee jointly evaluates research efforts to date on current projects, directs changes to tasks, if necessary and identifies and approves new projects for future investigations, utilizing Bloc membership funds. Meetings are generally conducted twice a year when sufficient material for discussion is available to justify such a meeting. Current sponsors of this Bloc are Avio, Boeing, Curtiss Wright, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, REM Chemicals, Rolls Royce, Sikorsky Aircraft and Timken-Latrobe.
June 2007
New Sponsors - Gear Research Institute
The Flight Systems Division of Curtiss Wright Controls of Gastonia, NC has become a sponsor of the Aerospace Bloc of the Institute. This bloc that focuses research on aerospace gearing is now sponsored by Avio, Boeing, Curtiss Wright, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney (East Hartford and Canada), Sikorsky Aircraft, Rolls Royce, REM Chemicals and Timken/Latrobe Steel.
The Institute also initiated efforts in June in support of the marine gear industry with a Single-Client project sponsored by Northrop Grumman Marine Systems of Sunnyvale, CA.
May 2007
Board of Trustees Meeting
The next meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Institute is scheduled for August 7 at John Deere’s Waterloo Works in Waterloo, IA. The Annual Meeting of the Institute will also be held on the same day and all members of the Institute are welcome to attend the Annual Meeting. Members who plan to attend should contact the Institute for details.
This will be the first meeting for Mr. Gary Kimmet as the President of the Institute. He was elected to this honorary position at the Board meeting in January of 2007, in place of Mr. Bill Bradley, who stepped down. Mr. Bradley continues on the Board.
March 2007
News - Gear Tooth Impact Testing
In the aerospace industry, higher performance specifications are driving gear manufacturers to utilize revolutionary materials, such as AMS 6308 and Pyrowear 675, among others. In the ground vehicle industry, where cost reduction is the driver, powder metal steel alloys are being seriously considered. In all these efforts the ability of the gear to withstand impact loading is of significant interest. In order to explore this characteristic the Gear Research Institute has instrumented and applied a drop-weight stand, shown below, to subject gear teeth to impact loads. A triggered release mechanism, which travels with the drop weight, is utilized to set the drop height and release the drop weight to initiate the test. The mass of the drop weight can be increased by adding dead weights on either side of the drop weight. A load cell, between the drop weight and the load anvil, measures the actual impact. By varying the drop height and the actual mass of the drop weight, the gear tooth can be subject to different amounts of impact energy, at various rates. Several sponsored programs are currently utilizing this test equipment to evaluate the impact characteristics of their gears.
January 2007
News - With the introduction of High Hot Hardness (H3) gear steels into aircraft transmissions, there is a growing need to evaluate gear related material properties at high temperatures. Knowing these characteristics would allow the design and implementation of gear boxes on aircraft that are capable of operating at high temperatures, which would in turn reduce the weight of transmission lubricant and on-board lubricant cooling systems. This would directly and favorably impact the payload of the aircraft.
The Gear Research Institute has been in the forefront of evaluating H3 gear steels. Shown below is a set-up, on a current project, sponsored by an aircraft engine and transmission manufacturer, to characterize the bending fatigue strength at temperatures around 300 degrees F. The first photograph shows the set-up immersed in hot oil and the test in progress, while the second photograph shows the set-up with the oil drained out. GRI has conducted these tests at even higher temperatures, utilizing other heating mediums.
December 2006
News - A FZG, power re-circulating, gear test rig, belonging to the AGMA, has now been loaned to the Gear Research Institute. The rig, which was resident at Timken Research in Ohio, was received at the Applied Research Laboratory of the Pennsylvania State University on December 1, 2006. This rig, which is expected to be operational early in 2007, will add a new capability to the Gear Research Institute's repertoire, specifically in the research area of gear tribology and gear lubricant evaluation.
November 2006
Article - "It’s All About the Science at the Gear Research Institute" published in Gear Technology (read article | download PDF)
