High-performance linear cable transmission

Cable transmissions offer several advantages such as high stiffness to weight ratio, high strength, low friction, and absence of backlash, which makes them appropriate for demanding mechanical applications. However while extensively used as rotational transmissions, there are only a few examples of linear cable transmissions in the literature. The reason is that the up-to-date designs are based on a cable layout that leads to cable length changes during movement. This, in turn, produces negative effects such as transmission nonlinearity and cable fatigue. In this paper an alternative design for linear cable transmissions is presented The new design overcomes the aforementioned problems through a proper cable layout. Different applications of the new transmission are reported, validating the proposed design.