Ball Screw Nut Radial Cooling Passage Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ball screw designs with cooling passages face issues such as increased axial length, complex and labor-intensive assembly processes, and poor sealing properties, which increase costs and reduce effective travel length.
Innovation Solution
A ball screw design featuring parallel guide grooves and sealing units on the nut, allowing for a radial cooling passage formation without axial passage, reducing assembly complexity and enhancing sealing efficiency by using leakproof members and covers to seal the grooves, thereby minimizing the need for conical screws and axial blocks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If two end caps with grooves are added to form a cooling passage, then cooling function is improved, but axial length increases and effective travel length reduces
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling passage is repositioned from the axial direction to the radial direction. The passage extends radially through the nut body from the outer peripheral surface to the central hole, eliminating the need for axial end caps and grooves. This dimensional change allows cooling functionality to be achieved without increasing axial length, directly resolving the contradiction between cooling effectiveness and effective travel length.
2Reliability
If covers are soldered to form closed cooling passage, then sealing is improved, but processing complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The complex soldering and grinding operations are completely removed from the manufacturing process. Instead of forming closed passages through soldered covers, the invention uses open radial grooves that are sealed with simple sealing members inserted into the grooves. This extraction of complex processing steps significantly reduces manufacturing complexity and time while maintaining adequate sealing through the simpler sealing member approach.
3Reliability
If axial holes are sealed with conical screws and leak proof cushions, then sealing is improved, but assembling difficulty and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing function is segmented into simple sealing members that can be independently inserted into radial grooves, rather than using complex conical screws with integrated sealing elements. The sealing members are separate, simple components that can be easily installed by insertion without requiring threading operations or precise alignment, significantly simplifying the assembling operation while maintaining sealing effectiveness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design reduces assembly costs and time, improves sealing properties, maintains effective travel length, and simplifies the assembly process by eliminating the need for axial blocks, resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective cooling passage system.
Implementation Method 1
The cooling medium is fed into the cooling passage through an input hole to cool down the nut 11 to a predetermined temperature, and then the cooling medium which has absorbed the heat energy is discharged out of the cooling passage
Data Source
AI summary
A ball screw with a cooling passage includes a ball screw, a nut and a sealing unit. The nut is provided with the input and output cooling holes parallel to the axis, and the flat surface is provided with the guide groove. A first hole and a second hole are disposed between the guide groove and the input cooling hole and the output cooling hole, respectively, and then a sealing unit seals the guide groove, so as to form the cooling passage. The guide groove, the first hole and the second hole all extend along the axial direction of the nut, and the cooling passage can be formed simply by sealing the guide groove with the sealing unit, which effectively reduces the assembling steps and time, consequently decreasing the assembling cost.