Eckart Hettlage // Consulting Engineer

Eckart Hettlage (Dipl. Ing.) was born in south-western Germany in 1948. In 1977 he graduated from the electronic engineering program (high frequency technology) at University of Karlsruhe. In the following years he was employed as a developer in a large American company. From 1984 to 2005 he worked as a developer for a German aerospace company where he contributed to numerous ESA and NASA programs as well as to satellite programs by commercial companies.

Since 1995 Hettlage intensified his interest in alternative transmission concepts and has been developing gear drives. The achievements of this work are several transmission systems known under the brand of HettlageDrive. One of them is the HettlageVariator which is, among other applications, used in tooth belt driven bicycles. Hettlage is holding several patents on his inventions. In 2003 he won an engineering award (Arthur-Fischer-Erfinderpreis Baden-Württemberg) for the HettlageVariator.

Besides his work as an engineer Hettlage is an amateur cyclist and a passionate traveller. Since almost 40 years he is taking periodical trips to all parts of the world. Both of his hobbies, the travelling and the cycling, let him try and optimize his inventions in practical use.

Eckart Hettlage expects to contribute with his work to modern age locomotion and transport technologies and a responsible use of energy resources.