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Calculation of Tooth Thickness Errors and Its Adjustment on Meshing Backlash of Harmonic Drive

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Abstract

Meshing backlash mainly determines the transmission accuracy of harmonic drive, which is an important index in design. In this paper, a design method for short tooth involute profile is proposed. By intercepting part of the tooth profile, meshing interference of the addendum can be effectively avoided. Based on the dimensions of over pins of circular spline and flexspline, a calculation method of tooth thickness deviation is proposed, and the positive and negative tooth thickness deviation are defined. Involute functions need not be calculated by this method, which simplifies the solution process. By discretizing the teeth profile points of circular spline and flexspline, a calculation method of time-varying backlash is proposed, the variation of backlash in meshing in and out is analyzed, and the influence law of tooth thickness deviation on backlash is studied. On this basis, an algorithm for adjusting the radial deformation to compensate for the backlash is proposed. The results show that the excessive backlash in the meshing area can be reduced by increasing the radial deformation. When meshing interference occurs, the interference-free meshing can be realized by decreasing the radial deformation.

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Funding

The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China No. 52175447 and National Key Research and Development Program of China No. 2020YFB2008200 for supporting the research. China Postdoctoral Science Foundation No. 2021M700301.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Advanced Manufacturing and Intelligent Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, People’s Republic of China

    Congbin Yang, Honglie Ma, Tao Zhang, Zhifeng Liu & Qiang Cheng

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, People’s Republic of China

    Congbin Yang, Honglie Ma & Tao Zhang

  3. Machinery Industry Key Laboratory of Heavy Machine Tool Digital Design and Testing Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, People’s Republic of China

    Zhifeng Liu & Qiang Cheng

  4. Beijing Institute of Precise Mechatronics and Controls, Beijing, 100076, People’s Republic of China

    Jigui Zheng

Authors
  1. Congbin Yang
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  2. Honglie Ma
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  3. Tao Zhang
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  4. Jigui Zheng
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  5. Zhifeng Liu
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All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tao Zhang.

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Yang, C., Ma, H., Zhang, T. et al. Calculation of Tooth Thickness Errors and Its Adjustment on Meshing Backlash of Harmonic Drive. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 24, 289–301 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-022-00738-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-022-00738-8

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