Double nut ball screw with improved operating characteristics

The performance and availability of production machines is strongly affected by the operating characteristics of the installed ball screws. In this context, the value of preloading is an important property greatly influencing the quality of the feed motion as well as the expected service life. Dynamic applications often require ball screws with high preloading values. As a result, such systems typically suffer from high friction values with the involved wear and heat generation. This paper presents a novel design principle for ball screws, allowing for a considerable reduction of the preloading and hence an overall improvement of the operating characteristics. (C) 2014 CIRP.