Advantages and Characteristics of a Dynamic Feed Axis with Ball Screw Drive and Driven Nut

This paper describes the advantages and characteristics of a Dynamic feed axis with ball screw drive and driven nut in comparison with the conventional electromechanical drive. In contrast to the classical drive the ball screw leadscrew is rigidly located at both ends and the nut is driven by a servomotor. The investigation considers two drive variants: the indirect drive with a standard servomotor driving the nut via a toothed belt and the direct drive with a hollow shaft servomotor. The feed system developed at the Institute for Machine Tools and Production Science at the University (TH) of Karlsruhe opens up new prospects for the development of new dynamic machine generations with traverse speed up to 120 m/min and acceleration up to 45 m/s$^2$. In addition to the high acceleration and traverse speed, the development program also has the objective of optimised transmission behaviour of the feed kinematic system with positional control. The design features and operating characteristics achieved with the innovative test device are described.