Patent ID: 6415676
Filing Date: 2002-07-09
Classification: F16C,F16H,Y10T

Abstract:
A ball screw device comprising:a screw shaft having an outer peripheral surface and a spiral ball rolling groove on said outer peripheral surface; a ball nut having an inner peripheral surface and a spiral ball rolling groove on said inner peripheral surface, the ball rolling groove of the ball nut facing and being opposed to the ball rolling groove of the screw shaft, whereby the ball rolling grooves together form a spiral ball rolling channel having first and second ends; a ball circulating passage connecting said ends of the ball rolling channel; a plurality of balls in the ball rolling channel and in the ball circulating passage, each of the balls having a spherical outer surface and a ball diameter D; and spacers disposed between the balls, there being one of said spacers between the balls of each pair of adjacent balls in the ball circulating passage and ball rolling channel, each of the spacers having spherical concave end surfaces facing in opposite directions on an axis about which the concave surfaces are symmetrical, said concave end surfaces of each spacer, receiving and slidably fitting portions of the spherical outer surfaces of two adjacent balls of said plurality of balls, respectively; wherein each of said spacers has a thickness from the group consisting of a first thickness T1 and a second, and different, thickness T2, the thickness T2 being related to the thickness T1 by the formula T2=T1+D/k, where D is the ball diameter, and k is a constant, and the spacers include at least one spacer of each said thickness; and wherein the number of spacers having a thickness T1 and the number of spacers having a thickness T2 is such that the sum C of the clearances e between the balls and the spacers is in the range from &frac13; to Â½ of the ball diameter D; whereby large dynamic torque increases and fluctuations are prevented, using spacers having only two different thicknesses.