Multibody Dynamics Simulation of Balls Impact-Contact Mechanics in Ball Screw Mechanism

In high-speed/high-precision ball screw transmitting systems, the re-circulating mechanism of ball screws is used for providing the path for steel balls rolling in screw grooves generally. Forces caused by the impact activity between the steel ball and re-circulating mechanism has resulted in a series of troublesome problems, such as violent vibration, strong noise, etc.. In order to investigate the impact-contact between the ball and re-circulating mechanism, a multibody dynamics model is proposed by using ADAMS and C++ language. And the simulation result is validated by comparing the result obtained from the test and calculated result. The conclusion is made that the multibody dynamics model gives a accurate prediction of dynamics of the steel ball. The simulation and experimental results show that the released elastical energy of the preload ball results in discrepancy of the measured frequency of steel ball impact with returner and the calculated results.