Since 1982, Aero Gear, Inc. in Windsor has worked to engineer and manufacture customized gears and gearbox assemblies for the global aerospace industry. These drive gear systems help control the power that moves an airplane forward for Pratt & Whitney, Sikorsky, Boeing, and many other aerospace businesses.
Although the company has since grown from two to 170 employees and houses dozens of machining instruments, some processes cannot be carried out in the facility. So, they sought technical advice from UConn’s Connecticut Manufacturing Simulation Center (CMSC).
“CMSC has the tools—and willing researchers—to approach complex materials physics problems that we simply have no way to investigate,” says Pat Brueckner, director of engineering at Aero Gear. “Our collaboration with CMSC helps us understand our heat treat and machining processes from a more academic perspective and close a scientific gap that exists between academia and real-world applications.”