The development of using the digital projection method to measure the contact angle of ball screw

Abstract

The ball screw frequently used to drive or translate the parts on the precision machine, such as machine tool and motorized stage. Therefore they were most frequently used on the precision machine, semiconductor equipment, medical instrument and aero industry. The main parts of ball screw are screw, ball and nut. The contact angle between the screw, ball and nut will affect the performance (include loading and noise) and lifecycle of a ball screw. If the actual contact angle and the designed contact angle are not the same, the friction between the ball, screw and nut will increase and it will result in the thermal increase and lifecycle decrease. This paper combines the traditional profile projector and commercial digital camera to build an imaging based and noncontact measurements system. It can implement the contact angle measurement quickly and accurately. Three different pitch angles of ball screws were completed tests in this paper. The angle resolution of this measurement system is about 0.001 degree and its accuracy is about 0.05 degree. ? 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V.