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7. Harmonic Goes Linear

a drive

привід

rotation

обертання

accuracy

точність

missing

відсутній

to cause

викликати

a pulley

шків

a screw

гвинт

to fold

згортати, складати

a gearhead

зубчастий редуктор

to wind

крутитися, обертатися

a brake

тормоз

CEO (a chief executive officer)

генеральний директор

maintenance

обслуговування

tension

напруга

lubrication

змазка

backlash

мертвий хід

to transmit

передавати

play

люфт

to fit

поміщати

stroke

хід

a spline

зубчасте колесо

a bearing

підшипник

an assembly

вузол

thrust

тяга

rigid

жорсткий

revolution

оберт

to be engaged

бути задіяним

pitch ratio

шагове відношення

A linear drive that brings the advantages of harmonic drives to linear motion can achieve high accuracy in long lengths that cause problems in screw-type drives, and it also works without gearheads or brakes, according to a manufacturer that has introduced one.

The manufacturer, Animatics Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., says the design has fewer parts, requires less maintenance, and never needs lubrication.

To understand how it works, first consider the workings of a conventional harmonic drive. It consists of three pieces. The first is a wave generator, an elliptical steel disk that usually transmits power from a motor or servo. It fits inside a flex spline, a steel cup with gear teeth on the outside of its thin walls that deform to take on the wave generator’s elliptical shape. This elliptical assembly fits inside a rigid, toothed circular spline so that 30 percent of the teeth are engaged at all times.

So far, it sounds like just another collection of gears. But the flex spline has fewer teeth than the circular spline. This means that every time the flex spline makes a full rotation forward, the circular spline moves backward by the number of gears equal to the missing teeth. So if the flex spline has 200 teeth and the circular spline 202 teeth, then it would move backward two teeth for every rotation, a 100:1 reduction ratio in only a few inches of space.

So how does this apply to linear drives? Most conventional linear drives combine a motor and gearhead with pulleys to pull a linear stage back and forth. Animatics’ harmonic linear drive uses a recirculating belt that folds back upon itself as it winds over several pulleys with different diameters. The different diameters of the pulleys work like the mismatched gear teeth in a harmonic drive to force the belt to travel at different rates in different areas.

“By adding a few $5 pulleys, we’ve eliminated a $300 to $500 gearhead,” Animatics CEO Robert Bigler said. He also noted that since the belt is always in tension, it comes to a complete stop without backlash. “Gearheads have to have some play, because if you try to preload them, you’ll have problems with the bearings,” he added.

Bigler claims that the harmonic linear drive performs about as well as highly accurate but more expensive ball screw drives, especially in medium to long lengths where screws begin to vibrate.

The new drives come in standard stroke lengths of 100 to 3,200 millimeters and equivalent pitch ratios of 2.5 mm per revolution to 12.5 mm per revolution. The company’s HLD60 model generates up to 450 newtons of thrust with an average moment loading of up to 150 newton-meters.

Speech patterns

so far

дотепер, поки що

as far as (I know, I understand)

наскільки (я знаю, я розумію)

as far back as (in the 10th century)

ще в (10-му столітті)

by far (better, more clever)

набагато (краще, більш розумний)

Exercise 1. Answer the questions.

1. What advantages does the new design have compared to a conventional linear drive? 2. What parts does the conventional harmonic drive consist of? 3. How does a flex spline differ from a circular spline? 4. Why do they use pulleys of different diameters in the harmonic linear drive? 5. How do they save money on using additional pulleys? 6. What is the advantage of the drive’s belt being always in tension?

Exercise 2. Give synonyms to the following words from the text:

advantage, accuracy, to cause, to transmit, rigid, to engage, ratio, to force, to move, to vibrate, average.

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