The abbreviation “Reltest” stands for Reliability & Testing and eponymous represents our core competencies, which lie in the areas of reliability technology and testing. In times of increasing customer requirements and at the same time ever more complex mechatronic solutions, we provide the necessary know-how to ensure reliability and service life.
RelTest-Solutions
We at RelTest-Solutions are three mechanical engineers and during our time as academic employees in the field of reliability technology at the Institute for Machine Elements at the University of Stuttgart, we recognized the increasing need for efficient and intelligent protection solutions. Well-known customers at national and international level have been benefiting from our know-how since 2016.
Dr.-Ing. Kevin Lucan
Founder & Consultant
Reliability Skillset
- Life Data Analysis
- Reliability Assurance
- Risk Management
- Design for Reliability
- FMEA & FTA
- Accelerated Life Testing
- Degradation Testing
- Design of Experiments
- Determination of Load Spectra
Kevin Lucan studied mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart and was an academic assistant and deputy head in the area of reliability engineering at the Institute of Machine Elements. He is the founder of RelTest-Solutions and works as a consultant and trainer in the field of reliability engineering. In addition to this work, he is involved in standardization with the DKE/K 132 Reliability committee and is a member of TC56/MT32, revising IEC Standard 62506 “Methods for product accelerated testing.
During his time as an academic staff member, Kevin Lucan was head of the working group “Standard Load Spectra for Commercial Vehicle Brakes”. As part of this working group, he and the working group participants developed a technical recommendation that describes representative load spectra for commercial vehicle brakes in Europe for the first time. It also shows how reliability requirements can be defined and verified by a standardized test concept.
Representative load spectra and their determination is also the topic of his doctoral studies, as he recognized the importance of and need for representative load spectra. Representative load spectra are essential for the design of technical systems, especially due to the increasing demand for lightweight construction and the increasing cost pressure in the development of technical systems. Thus, a stress-oriented dimensioning based on representative load spectra is to be aimed at in order to reduce safety factors in the component dimensioning and, at the same time, to continue to guarantee a high reliability. In his PhD thesis “Methodical determination of representative load spectra at the example of commercial vehicle brakes”, Kevin Lucan describes a methodology he developed with which representative load spectra can be determined considering certain boundary conditions such as product type, product strategy or available budget.
As founder of RelTest-Solutions, he has been supporting numerous customers with his extensive expertise in solving their problems along the reliability process since 2018. Thereby he develops for and with the customers individual reliability processes and the necessary modules, such as weak point analysis and reliability improvement in the early phase of product development. In addition, individually customized testing strategies for lifetime assurance could be developed and established at the customers through his support. In addition, due to his PhD project and similar customer projects, he has broad expertise in analyzing warranty and goodwill data as well as load data from customer use. Kevin Lucan also regularly shares his expertise and experience in reliability engineering and statistical design of experiments (DOE) at professional symposia and as a trainer in our seminars.
Dr.-Ing. Martin Dazer
Founder & Consultant
Reliability Skillset
- Life Data Analysis
- Reliability Assurance
- Risk Management
- Design for Reliability
- FMEA & FTA
- Accelerated Life Testing
- Degradation Testing
- Design of Experiments
- Determination of Load Spectra
Martin Dazer started his mechanical engineering studies at the Duale Hochschule Stuttgart and moved to the University of Stuttgart for his master’s degree. In 2015 he began working on his PhD as an academic staff member at Technologie Transfer Initiative GmbH in cooperation with the Institute for Machine Elements and Knorr-Bremse Systeme für Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH. After completing his PhD project at the end of 2017, he took over as head of the Powertrain and Reliability Technology research areas at the Institute of Machine Elements. Mr. Dazer is responsible for approx. 20 employees in his research areas in terms of expertise and human resources. In addition, he is involved in the VDI Product and Process Design Advisory Board and the Reliability Management Technical Committee. As a guest member, he participates in the DKE committee on international standardization in the reliability field. In addition, Mr. Dazer is part of the program committee at various scientific conferences and symposia such as the RAMS Symposium or the Technical Reliability Conference. In 2019, he received his Ph.D. with honors from Prof. Bertsche and Prof. Schmauder.
Mr. Dazer began his reliability research as part of his doctoral project at Knorr-Bremse Systeme für Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH. Using a newly developed stochastic lifetime simulation, it was possible for the first time to virtually calculate the reliability of the braking system. With this robust prior reliability knowledge, reliability assessments can be carried out very early in the development process without the need for cost-intensive prototype tests, and the prior knowledge can also be used to optimize physical testing. For the respective individual use case, the best test strategy can thus be determined in the trade-off between accuracy, cost and time. Due to the high scientific innovation and the outstanding industrial relevance, Mr. Dazer was awarded his doctorate summa cum laude and received the Südwestmetall-Förderpreis 2020 for his dissertation “Reliability Test Planning with Consideration of Prior Knowledge from Stochastic Lifetime Calculation”.
Even before the foundation of RelTest-Solutions, Mr. Dazer started consulting activities around issues of reliability engineering, testing and test methodology. The focus of the challenges in the industrial application is often to develop an efficient reliability proof. These questions tie in seamlessly with the doctoral research as well as the research of Mr. Dazer that builds on it. The knowledge gained through the research activities can thus be used directly in the application. Numerous companies from very different disciplines, from simple structural mechanical failure of the brake system to electrochemical corrosion of a gas sensor, benefit from this direct knowledge transfer. For the publication of the latest scientific and application-related findings at technical conferences, he was awarded the Best Paper Award of the RAMS Symposium as well as the Technical Reliability Conference.
Our publications
Lucan, Kevin; Bertsche, Bernd: Methodische Ermittlung von repräsentativen Lastkollektiven für eine belastungsgerechte Produktauslegung. In: Stuttgarter Symposium für Produktentwicklung 2021, 2021
Ostertag, Andreas; Dazer, Martin; Bertsche, Bernd: Methode zur zuverlässigen, sicheren und nachhaltigen Auslegung Adaptiver Tragwerke. In: Stuttgarter Symposium für Produktentwicklung 2021, 2021
Grundler, Alexander ; Göldenboth, Marcel ; Stoffers, Frédéric ; Dazer, Martin ; Bertsche, Bernd: Effiziente Zuverlässigkeitsabsicherung durch Berücksichtigung von Simulationsergebnissen am Beispiel einer Hochvolt-Batterie. In: 30. VDI-Fachtagung Technische Zuverlässigkeit 2021. Düsseldorf : VDI Verlag GmbH, 2021. — ISBN 978-3-18-092377-2 , S. 75–88
Karthaus, Carsten ; Behrendt, Harald ; Dazer, Martin ; Bertsche, Bernd:Effektivitätssteigerung eines Prüffelds zur Fahrbarkeitsmessung durch statistische Datenanalyse. In: ATZ – Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift. Bd. 123 (2021), Nr. 1, S. 68–72
Gretzinger, Yvonne ; Kroner, Andreas ; Henß, Mark ; Dazer, Martin ; Bertsche, Bernd: Extended Evaluation of Pitting Degradation Tests to Increase the Remaining Useful Life of Gear Wheels. In: IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering. Bd. 1097 (2021), Nr. 012006
Benz, Achim ; Hintz, Kim ; Diesch, Martin ; Dazer, Martin ; Bertsche, Bernd: Zuverlässigkeitsanalyse von PV-Anlagen und Wechselrichtern. In: , 2021
Dazer, M.; Grundler, A.; Herzig, T.; Berschte, B. : R-OPTIMA – Optimal planning of reliability tests: Proc of the 7th International Conference Integrity-Reliability-Failure, 2020, S. 695-702.
Herzig, T.; Dazer, M.; Grundler, A.; Berschte, B. : Integrating accelerated life tests into optimal test planning: Proc of the 7th International Conference Integrity-Reliability-Failure, 2020, S. 665-672.
Grundler, A.; Dazer, M.; Herzig, T.; Berschte, B. : Considering multiple failure mechanisms in optimal test design: Proc of the 7th International Conference Integrity-Reliability-Failure, 2020, S. 673-682.
Diesch, M. ; Dazer, M. ;Lucan, K., Bubolz, T. ; Berschte, B. : Soft Sensor Application to predict remaining useful Life of Components of the Exhaust System of Diesel Engines : RAMS 2020 Conference (Annual Reliability and Maintainablity Symposium), 27.01.-30.01.2020, Palm Springs,CA, USA.
Gretzinger, M. Dazer, and B. Bertsche: Using Life Data of Competing Failure Modes to Increase the Remaining Useful Life of Gear Wheels, in RAMS 2020 Conference, Palm Springs, CA, USA, 2020.
Grundler, M. Dazer, and B. Bertsche, Reliability-Test Planning Considering Multiple Failure Mechnaisms and System Levels – An Approach for Identifying the Optimal System-Test Level, Type, and Configuration with Regard to Individual Cost and Time Constraints in Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium, RAMS 2020, 2020.
Kremer, A. ; Bertsche, B.:A Methodology for Consideration of Uncertainty in Lifetime Design of Experiments, Proc. RAMS 2019 Conference (Annual Reliability and Maintainablity Symposium), 28.01.-31.01.2019, Orlando, FL, USA.
Lucan, K. ; Dazer, M. ; Hintz, K. ; Bertsche, B.: Effect of Competing Failure Modes on the System Reliability Estimation: Proc. RAMS 2019 Conference (Annual Reliability and Maintainablity Symposium), 28.01.-31.01.2019, Orlando, FL, USA. ISBN 978-1-5386-6554-1/19.
Herzig, T. ; Grundler, A. ; Dazer, M. ; Bertsche, B.: Cost- and Time-effective Planning of Accelerated Reliability Demonstration Tests – A new Approach of comparing the Expenditure of Success Run and End-of-Life Tests: Proc. RAMS 2019 Conference (Annual Reliability and Maintainablity Symposium), 28.01.-31.01.2019, Orlando, FL, USA.
Lucan, K. ; Bersche, B. :Standard-Lastkollektive für die Nutzfahrzeugbremse ; Automobil-technische Zeitschrift, Springer Vieweg Jahrgang 121, 05/2019, S. 78-83.
Lucan, K. ; Bertsche, B. : Standard Load Spectra for Commercial Vehicle Brakes. EuroBrake 2019 21.5-23.5 2019, Dresden.
Henß, M. ; Kemmler, S. ;Kremer, A. ;Bertsche, B. :Regression with individual weigths to prevent overfitting. Forschung im Ingenieurwesen, Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2019, DOI: 1007/s10010-019-00301-4.
Herzig, T. ; Dazer, M. ; Bertsche, B. : Zuverlässigkeitsabsicherung ressourcenschonender Produkte durch effiziente Erprobungsplanung. Stuttgarter Symposium für Produktentwicklung 2019 (SSP2019), Stuttgart, 2019.
Schleinkofer, U. ; Dazer, M. ; Lucan, K. ;Mannuß, O. ; Bertsche, B. ; Bauernhansl, T. :Framework for Robust Design and Reliability Methods to Develop Frugal Manufacturing Systems. CIRP Manufacturing Systems Conference 2019, Ljubljana, Slowenien, 2019.
Kremer, A. ; Bertsche, B. : A New Approach for Parametrizing Multidimensional Lifetime Models, Proc. ESREL 2019 Conference, 22.06-26.09.2019, Hannover, Deutschland, ISBN 978-981-11-2724-3, pp. 723-730.
Kremer, A; Bertsche, B.; Scholzen, A.: The influence of environmental and manufacturing conditions on lifetime and reliability predictions for industrial timing belt drives. Forschung im Ingenieurwesen, Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2019, DOI: 10.1007/s10010-019-00381-2.
Kremer, A.; Bertsche, B.; Scholzen, A.: Verbesserte Auslegung industrieller Zahnriemenantriebe durch Analyse von Breitenfaktoren und der Alterung. Dresdner Maschinenelemente Kolloquium 2019, 26.-27.11.2019, Dresden, sierke Verlag, ISBN 978-3-96548-055-1.
Gretzinger, M. Dazer, and B. Bertsche,Lebensdauerpotentiale bei der Schadensart Zahnradgrübchen, in Dresdner Maschinenelemente Kolloquium, Dresden, 2019, pp. 209–218.
Kremer, A.; Bertsche, B.:Experimentelle Untersuchungen von Breitenfaktoren und der Alterung zur Verbesserung der Auslegung von industriellen Zahnriemengetrieben. VDI-Fachkonferenz: Umschlingungsgetriebe 2019. 11.-12. Dezember 2019, Stuttgart.
Diesch, M.; Bubolz, T.; Dazer, M.; Lucan, K.; Bertsche, B.: Application of virtual sensors for stress-related design and operation-specific lifetime prognosis. HEAVY-DUTY-, ON- UND OFF-HIGHWAY-MOTOREN 2019 14. Internationale MTZ-Fachtagung Großmotoren.
Dazer, M.; Bräutigam, D.; Leopold, T.; Bertsche, B.: Optimal planning of reliability life tests considering prior knowledge. Proc. RAMS 2018, 22.01 – 25.01.2018, Reno, USA.
Lucan, K; Dazer, M.; Waller, J.; Bertsche, B.: Analysis of the Weibull Estimation for Competing Failure Modes. Proc. RAMS 2018, 22.01 – 25.01.2018, Reno, USA.
Kremer, A.; Bertsche, B.:Versuchsbasierte Lebensdauerprognose von Zahnriemengetrieben. DVM Workshop ZuMAS (Zuverlässigkeit mechatronischer und adaptronischer Systeme), 27.-28. Februar 2018, BMW Group Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum FIZ, München.
Müller, K., Dazer, M., Cheng Wen, P., Bertsche, B.:Fatigue Reliability Assessment For Floating Wind Turbines. In: Proceedings of Wind Europe Conference 2018, 25.-28.09.2018, Hamburg, Germany.
Kremer, A.; Bertsche, B.; Scholzen, A.: Ermittlung von lebensdauerbeeinflussenden Faktoren bei Zahnriemengetrieben. Antriebstechnik, Vereinigte Fachverlage GmbH, Jahrgang 74, 11/2018, S.148-153.
Kremer, A.; Bertsche, B.; Scholzen A.: Methodik zur Prognose der Lebensdauer von Zahnriemengetrieben. Schweizer Maschinenelemente Kolloquium SMK 2018. 27.-28. November 2018, Rapperswil, Schweiz; KISSsoft AG (Hrsg.); TUDpress, 2018 – ISBN 978-3-95908-150-4.
Dazer, M. Henß, and B. Bertsche, Zuverlässigkeit und Betriebsfestigkeit, in Handbuch Konstruktion, 2nd ed., F. Rieg and R. Steinhilper, Eds. Hanser Verlag, 2018.
Kremer, A.; Bertsche, B.: BeschleunigteZuverlässigkeitstests unter Berücksichtigung von Vertrauensbereichen. Forschung im Ingenieurwesen, Volume 82, Issue 468, Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, 2018, S. 1-15, DOI: 10.1007/s10010-018-0290-0.
Stohrer, M., Lucan, K., Bertsche, B. :Planung eines Zuverlässigkeits-DoE im Spannungsfeld zwischen Test-Design und Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit. 28. VDI-Fachtagung Technische Zuverlässigkeit 2017, 17.-18.05.2017, Leonberg, VDI-Berichte 2307, ISBN 978-3-18-092307-9. S. 269-280.
Müller, M. Dazer, and C. Po Wen, Damage Assessment of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Using Response Surface Modeling, Energy Procedia, vol. 137, pp. 119–133, 2017.
Lucan, K. ; Henß, M. ; Bertsche, B. : Working Group CV-Brakes – Procedure for a Commercial Vehicle Brakes’ Standard. EuroBrake 2017 2.5-4.5 2017, Dresden.
Kemmler, S. ; Dazer, M. ; Leopold, T. ; Bertsche, B. : Lebensdaueranalyse auf Basis von multidimensionaler Zuverlässigkeits- und Robust Design Simualation. VDI-Fachtagung Technische Zuverlässigkeit 2017, 17.-18.05.2017, Leonberg, VDI-Berichte 2307, ISBN 978-3-18-092307-9.
Dazer, P. Höller, T. Leopold, and B. Bertsche, Stochastic fatigue calculations using an accelerated 3-step multilinear kinematic hardening model of spheroidal graphite iron, in Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Mechanics and Materials in Design, Albufeira, Portugal, 2017, pp. 217–228.
Dazer, M.; Stohrer, M.; Kemmler, S.; Bertsche, B.:Planning of reliability life tests within the accuracy, time and cost triangle, Accelerated Stress Testing and Reliability (ASTR) Conference, 28.09 – 30.10.2016, Pensacola Beach, Florida, USA.
Dazer, M. ; Leopold, T. ;Bertsche, B. :Optimale Lebensdauertestplanung durch Berücksichtigung von Vorkenntnissen aus stochastischen Betriebsfestigkeitssimulationen, SIMVEC 2016, 22.11-23.11.2016, Baden-Baden.
Dazer, S. Kemmler, T. Leopold, J. Fricke, and B. Bertsche, Stochastic simulation approach for realistic lifetime forecast and assurance of commercial vehicle braking systems, in 12th Optimization and Stochastic Days 2015, Weimarhalle, Weimar, Germany, 2015.