A Novel Strain Wave Gear Reducer with Double Flexsplines

Abstract

Strain wave gear reducers, also known as harmonic drives, are widely used in industrial robots and collaborative robots. The zero-backlash feature is very important for these applications. However, this places extremely high demands on the machining accuracy of the strain wave gear reducer. Excessive manufacturing errors will lead to excessive backlash, affecting transmission accuracy or making installation difficult, and the flexible spline (or flexspline) is prone to wear, resulting in reduced accuracy with use. This study proposes a novel strain wave gear reducer with a double flexspline structure. The original “circular spline” which was rigid will be redesigned to be slightly flexible and deformable with an additional deformation adjustment structure, which reduces the requirements for machining accuracy, and realizes the same zero-backlash characteristic of traditional structure. The experimental results show that the new strain wave gear reducer has extremely low lost motion, hysteresis loss, and high torsional rigidity. The new strain wave gear reducer provides a more economical way to realize the zero-backlash reducer and helps to solve the problem of the accuracy decline of the strain wave gear reducer due to the wear of the flexspline.