Effect of a Blocked Recirculation Channel on the Performance of a Not Preloaded Ball Screw with Compliant Minimal Constraints

Ball screw jamming is a critical issue that can impact the performance and reliability of ball screw systems, and can lead to the loss of the entire mechanical power transmission. No dynamic analyses have been performed in the literature to study the contact conditions, dynamic behavior, and performance of the mechanism in the presence of such a fault. This paper presents the results of a simulation analysis carried out by means of a multibody dynamic model in the presence of partial jamming, obtained by blocking a sphere in one of the three recirculating channels of the considered ball screw. The model considers the full dynamics of each subcomponent and minimal compliant constraint. The effect of a blocked recirculation channel is investigated in terms of overall mechanical efficiency, the internal motion of the spheres, and their contact condition.