SUDDENLY IT WAS ALL THERE Breaking new ground even though things are going pretty well Tomas Smetana 44 has experienced this situation in his life not just once but on numerous occasions most re cently about two years ago when the engineer decided to relocate to Japan in order to assume responsibility for Schaeffler s technology activities in the Asia Pacific region Prior to his move Smetana had been responsi ble for the production launch of the first electromechanical roll stabilizer Above all though his name is close ly linked to the electric axle one of the products with which Schaeffler intends to accelerate entry into the age of electric mobility The devel opment of the axle begins in 2005 with a question that at first glance has nothing to do with electric drive systems Would it be possible to manufacture planetary carriers for automatic transmissions using form ing technology that would enable lighter weight and a more compact design It doesn t take long to veri fy the proposition s basic technical feasibility but there s only a limited market for the product at that time Instead Smetana tests the utilization of planetary technology in a light weight differential which is addition ally supposed to enable active torque distribution between the wheels of a driven axle Initially a hydraulic sys tem is used to vary torque until Smet ana with his pre development team challenges this principle by asking if an electric system could be used as an alternative And all of a sudden we had all the components for an electric final drive recalls the me chanical engineer who s convinced that innovations often are the result of combining the right ideas with each other For Smetana What oth er customer relevant functions can be achieved this way is one of the key questions engineers should ask themselves In 2010 the first proto type of an electric axle with integrat ed active torque distribution has been achieved based on a Škoda Oc tavia The demo vehicle hits the road with two electric axles even before the National Electric Mobility Plat form is formed in Germany or China starts discussing quotas for vehicles with alternative powertrains Pro duction of Schaeffler s first electric final drive system is launched at the end of 2017 Even though Smetana is happy that his ideas are bearing fruit he person ally lives in the future Japan as the home of robotics 65 percent of all robots sold around the globe are made by Japanese manufacturers is a fascinating playground for the curious engineer At the moment a generation of collaborative robots is in the making there intended to work hand in hand with humans outside security fences These lightweight agile and humanoid Cobots require completely new kinematics with ap propriate sensors and control sys tems Smetana explains We re currently experiencing a systems change in robotics that s similar to the impact of electric mobility on au tomotive engineering His enthusi asm can be clearly felt It s the joy of a boy who grew up in the Czech Re public and was working on model airplanes before the fall of the Iron Curtain Components were in scarce supply so he had to put together the remote control with a lot of imagina tion from whatever was available This too is innovation combining the right existing things to create something that s all new TOMAS SMETANA YOKOHAMA J 78 79

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