Zhu Jingzi

Zhu Jingzi (; 1910–1986) was a Chinese mechanical engineer, educator, and academic administrator known for his contributions to gear transmission theory. He served as a professor and department head at Shanxi University and Taiyuan Institute of Technology, and later as vice president of the latter. He was also Vice Chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Central Committee of the China Democratic League. Zhu was recognized as a leading figure in the development of mechanical engineering, particularly in gear transmission research, in China.

Biography

Zhu was born in 1910 in Zibo, Shandong Province, China. In 1934, he was admitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University, where he specialized in aeronautical engineering. He graduated in 1938 and continued postgraduate studies in the same field.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Zhu worked in industrial production and served as factory director and chief engineer of Zhongnan Iron Works in Chengdu. He later became a professor at the College of Engineering of Sichuan University. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he moved to Shanxi, where he taught at Shanxi University and subsequently at Taiyuan Institute of Technology, an institution that later evolved into Taiyuan University of Technology. Over a career spanning approximately 35 years in Shanxi, he devoted himself to higher education and scientific research in the region.

In the early years of the People's Republic, Zhu played a key role in the establishment and development of the discipline of mechanical engineering (now known as mechanical design and theory) at Taiyuan. As a department head, he actively promoted academic exchange and strengthened research initiatives, laying the foundation for the institution's later achievements in the field.

Zhu Jingzi died in 1986. His theoretical work on circular arc gears continued to influence research at Taiyuan University of Technology, where the field has remained at a leading level within China.

Research and contributions

Zhu specialized in mechanical engineering with a focus on gear transmission systems. In 1954, he successfully developed a hyperbolic crank-type small tooth difference planetary gear transmission. In 1973, he developed the RSH staged double circular arc gear. He was among the first in China to propose the theory of circular arc gear transmission, pioneering research in this area. In 1958, Zhu established the Strength Laboratory (later the Gear Strength Research Institute) at Taiyuan Institute of Technology, where he served as director. The laboratory focused on circular arc gears and new types of linkage transmission systems.