Investigation of the transmission accuracy of ball screw considering errors and preloading level

Transmission accuracy is one of the most important parameters in ball screw mechanism (BSM); however, very few researches can be found on the transmission error modeling for BSM. Therefore, on the basis of the converting principle of the errors in the normal and axial direction proposed in this paper, this paper proposes a new model to predicate the transmission accuracy of BSM considering the manufacturing errors, installation errors, as well as the transmission error due to different loading status. After the error analysis and calibration of a transmission accuracy measuring system, the transmission accuracy measurement of a typical BSM under five different preloading levels is performed. The experimental results show that the difference compared with the analytical solution is 21.6% under no preload condition, and is less than 11% under preload condition, largely owing to the uneven distribution of clearance can increase the travel deviation. Further analysis shows that the eccentricity error is the dominant factor leading to the periodic fluctuation of the transmission error. More importantly, the travel deviation increases with increasing preload, which indicates the transmission accuracy of the BSM deteriorates when the load increases.