Finite Element Modelling of Ball Screw Feed Drive Systems

M. F. Zaehl, Th. Oertlil

1
Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management
TU Muenchen, Garching, Germany
Submitted by J. Milberg (I), Garching, Germany

Abstract
For full realization of the feasible drive performance on machine tools, the dynamic behaviour of the entire
mechatronic system must be analysed and optimized integrally during design of the machine. To permit
complete modelling of the machine tool frame structure with integral ball screw feed drive systems by means
of the finite element method (FEM) a specific model approach for ball screw drives is presented, which is a
prerequisite for the FEM modelling of a complete machine tool based on feed drives of this type. The feed
axis of a feed drives test station serves here as an example for demonstration of the modelling of feed
drives. The FEM model is integrated into a mechatronic model of the axis control system and the behaviour
of the position and speed control loop is simulated.

Keywords:
Finite element method (FEM), Mechatronic System, Machine Tool

1 INTRODUCTION sion characteristics [5]. The rotary masses and springs in

Huge advances have been made in recent years in the the drivetrain are in the latter case reduced to translatory
fields of CNC and digital drive technology in the achieve- DOFs in the feed direction. In addition, drive-specific pro-
ment of ever greater feed and fast traverse speeds of grams exist for detailed modelling and analysis of drive
machine tools. Further increases in performance require systems, including ball screw drive systems (e. g.
not only optimum selection, design and dimensioning of [6][7][8][9]). These methods do not however take the flexi-
the drive components, but also reductions in the weight of ble behaviour of the machine frame into consideration.
the moving frame components to a possible minimum. A method is presented below for the detailed modelling of
However, reductions in material usage result in losses in ball screw drives using universal FEM programs. This
stiffness in the region of the machine frame. Integral de- method permits direct FEM modelling of transmission
sign of the drives and the frame structure will therefore systems by discrete geometric modelling of the transmis-
become increasingly important in the development of sion shafts and even so ensures a realistic forcehorque
future machine generations [1][2]. straining in the transmission system.
The finite element method (FEM) as a means to structure
analysis and optimization continues to be an accepted and 2 MODELLING OF BALL SCREW DRIVES
verified stage of machine tool design. For vibration analy-
sis of machine frames, all flexible components are mod- 2.1 Stiffness conditions at the ball-groove contact
elled as finite element meshes by discrete geometric Figure 1 shows two typical designs for prestressed ball
mapping of the continuous bodies (the principle of FEM). screw drives. With regard to their stiffness properties, the
The meshes are then combined together with spring ele- compliance of the rolling balls is assumed to be dominant
ments to form a complete machine model [1][3][4][5]. This compared to the bodies of the ball screw and nut [lo].
connotes a substitute modelling of the stiffness properties
and the kinematic degrees of freedom (DOF) of the re-
spective joining elements, such as linear guides.
However, the integration of ball screw feed drive systems
into FEM machine models has not yet been satisfactorily
resolved. The transformation of the drive torque into a
feed force by the ball screw gives rise to two force flows in
the transmission system: a torque flow for transmission of
the motor torque, and an axial force flow for support of the
feed force on the axial bearing(s) of the ball screw. Uni-
versal FEM codes normally employed for analysis of the
frame structures do not provide suitable model elements
with both the screw DOF and the stiffness properties of
ball screw drives. Therefore, the forcehorque distribution
and the resulting strain upon the components in the Figure 1: Typical designs for prestressed
transmission system cannot be modelled realistically. ball screw drives.
Approximative solutions to this can be combining a screw
mechanism (kinematic multipoint constraint) with the axial
stiffness properties of the ball screw-nut system [4] or A rolling ball transmits forces F, only in the direction of the
substitute modelling of the rotary transmission system as contact normal at the interface between the ball and the
a translatory multi-DOF-system with equivalent transmis- thread groove (Figure 2, cf. [10][11][12]).

Figure 2: Contact force and angular transformations
on a rolling ball.
In a local coordinate system N , the x-axis of which (G~)
coincides with the contact normal, the stiffness tensor @
of the single ball contains only the normal stiffness C, of
the ball:
Nc=l 0 0 01
lo O 01
2.2 Stiffness matrix for ball screw drives
A stiffness matrix CBsD is sought for ball screw drives
which couples a reference node "1" of the ball screw with
a reference node "2" of the nut. Both nodes coincide on
the screw axis. The matrix must define the total stiffness
of all balls in the Cartesian DOFs and still leave the screw
DOF unconstrained. The stiffness matrix is obtained as a
12x12 matrix by transformation of the single ball stiffness
tensors fl (1) into the nodal coordinate system of the
reference nodes and summation for all balls being en-
gaged. It yields the following form:
c,, =[ cll with
-c
21
L 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cbed
0 O I
Cbed
The axial stiffness c, of the ball screw drive can generally
be taken directly from the manufacturer's data sheet. The
radial stiffness C,d, the torsional stiffness ctor,the bending
stiffness Cbend, and the principal screw stiffness c,,,, can be
calculated from the axial stiffness c, and the geometric
dimensions of the ball screw nut via the transformation
between the single ball stiffness tensor fl (1) and the
stiffness matrix CBsD (2). The principal screw stiffness
elements c,, couple the axial and torsional DOFs. They
align the matrix normal to the screw DOF and ensure the
latter DOF remains unconstrained.
2.3 FEM modelling of ball screw drives
For the stiffness matrix to be applied in FEM codes, it
would have to be implemented as a special finite element.
As this option is not always open to the practical user, a
procedure was developed for modelling the ball screw
drive with scalar spring elements. These elements are
available in all FEM programs. The diagonal elements of
the stiffness matrix CBsD (2) are first defined by three
translatory and three rotary spring elements between the
reference nodes of the ball screw and the nut. The sym-
metric off-diagonal elements c,, are then generated as
shown in Figure 3 by cross coupling the axial and torsional
DOFs (ux and rx respectively). For assurance of the equi-
librium of forces, these couplings are effected both be-
tween the two reference nodes, and - using opposite signs
- within each of the two nodes. This model completely
generates the stiffness matrix CBsD (2) when the system
matrices are assembled by the FEM solver.
Figure 3: Substitute scalar spring model for generation of
the off-diagonal matrix elements.
3 MODELLING OF MECHANICAL TRANSMISSION
SYSTEMS
Modelling of ball screw drives by the method presented
above defines in detail the forcehorque transformation and
the total stiffness of the rolling balls between the ball
screw and the nut. This assures a realistic forcehorque
straining in the mechanical transmission system. Only this
characteristics enables the modelling of rotary transmis-
sion systems by means of the FEM. The structure compo-
nents, in this case the torque and force transmitting
shafts, can now be modelled as finite element meshes by
discrete geometric mapping. The meshes are then in turn
coupled with spring elements for substitute modelling of
the joining elements such as couplings, bearings, or - as
seen above - ball screw drives.
The procedure is independent of the FEM program em-
ployed and can thus be integrated easily by users as an
extension to existing modelling and analysis processes.
The particular advantage of the method is that the entire
machine structure together with integrated drive systems
can be modelled and all relevant dynamic interactions of
the drives with the vibrating machine structure can be
comprehensively detected and analysed. Table 1 provides
an overview of the typical components of ball screw feed
drive systems and the finite element types suitable for
modelling.
Comoonent
Shaft
I Finite element model
Finite element mesh (beams with
I
(motor shaft, ball screw, circular cross-section)
aear shaft)
Coupling Torsional scalar spring
Gear transmission Kinematic constraint (transmission
(toothed belt gear, ratio) with torsional scalar spring (belt
Dinion aear) or coa stiffness) in series
Cog wheel, Finite element mesh (solids or shells)
drive pulley or simplified: rigid body with inertial
tensor
Shaft to collar
connection
I Torsional scalar spring
Bearing Scalar springs (radial, axial, bending
stiffnesses)
Ball screw drive Stiffness matrix as in Equation (2) or
substitute scalar spring model as
described in section 2.3
Carriage, Finite element mesh (solids or shells)
frame component or simplified: rigid body with inertial
tensor (see example below)
Linear guide Scalar springs (vertical and lateral
stiffnesses)
Table 1: Overview of the finite element modelling of typical
components of ball screw feed drive systems.
4 FEM ANALYSIS OF A FEED DRIVE SYSTEM with regard to the transfer behaviour. The first torsional
Application of the method is shown below for the x-axis of mode is characterized by an antiphase vibration of the
the two-axis feed drives test station shown in Figure 4. In carriage (axial movement) in relation to the ball screw
this feed drive system, the ball screw is driven directly by (rotary movement) normal to the screw DOF. The rotation
a synchronous servo motor through a coupling. of the motor shaft is in phase with the ball screw with
slight torsion of the coupling and the ball screw. In the
Technical data (x-axis): second torsional mode, an antiphase vibration appears
9 d 7, , J
r -
= 204.1 (f4 kgm2
= 118.1 (f4 kgm2
between the rotations of the motor shaft and the ball
J=--- screw with torsion of the coupling. The ball screw passes
through the nut in the screw DOF with the carriage virtu-
ally stationary, undergoing slight axial strain in the section
between the axial bearing and the ball screw nut.
The dominance of the torsional modes becomes apparent
when the computed modes are postprocessed in terms of
modal synthesis for generation of the transfer functions
between the motor shaft and the mounting points of the
sensors on the motor shaft and the carriage. Figure 6
shows as an example the Bode diagram of the motor
Figure 4: Feed drives test station and the essential speed against the motor torque. For calculation of the
technical data for the x-axis. transfer function, the modal damping approach was em-
ployed with 5% critical damping equally on all modes.
The MSC.Nastran/MSC.Patran FEM software was em-
ployed in this case for modelling and analysis. Figure 5 - lo1,
1 . . . . . . . ., I
shows the FEM model of the x-axis.

100

I
./-
Frequency [Hz]

Figure 6: Transfer function of the motor speed against the

motor torque.

5 SIMULATION OF THE AXIS CONTROL SYSTEM

Considerably more insight can be gained from the FEM
model if it is exploited further as a model of the mechani-
cal control path for simulation of the axis control system
[6][8]. The second-order differential equations of motion
set up by means of FEM are transformed for this purpose
to state-space, a more suitable representation for time-
Mode Eigen- Mode shape domain integration. In the example under consideration, a
No. freq. modal order reduction was performed in order to reduce
the computational costs, and the state-space system was
I I OHz I Rigid body mode: screw mechanism in the
ball screw drive. generated from the decoupled modal system matrices.
34.8 Hz Axial vibration of the motor shaft; axial
displacement unconstrained by the cou-
pling.
115 Hz Antiphase vibration between the carriage
and the ball screw normal to the screw

"I""
DOF. In phase rotation of the motor shaft
with the screw.
Bending modes of the ball screw.
Antiphase rotation between the motor shaft
and the ball screw. In phase screw motion
of the ball screw through the nut in the
direction of the screw DOF.
I 7.8 I 276 Hz I Radial vibration of the motor shaft.
Table 2: Computed eigenfrequencies and mode shapes.
Table 2 shows the first eight of the computed real eigen-
frequencies and mode shapes. The two torsional vibration
modes at 115 Hz and 275 Hz are particularly dominant
I
Figure 7: Conventional cascade position control loop for
electric feed drives for CNC systems.
The feed drive system with closed-loop control was simu-
I lated by means of the Matlab/Simulink simulation system.
The mechatronic model of the position controlled feed axis
considers the synchronous servo motor modelled in sim-
plified form as a P-TI element and the time response of
the power circuit by a first-order delay element inside the
cascade control set up with a position, a speed and a
current controller. The mechanical transmission system is
described in a model block by the reduced state-space
system derived from the FEM model (Figure 7).
The model enables the behaviour of the control loops to
be analysed in the time and frequency domain. This en-
ables the gain factors and time constants of the controllers
to be determined in advance and the chief performance
and fidelity parameters such as control deviations, settling
times, or the controller band widths, to be evaluated dur-
ing the draft design stage of a machine. As examples of
simulation, Figure 8 shows the reference frequency re-
sponse of the speed control loop calculated with band-
limited white noise on the speed controller input, and the
step response of the position control loop together with
the corresponding experimental results of the actual feed
drives test station.
Figure 8: Reference frequency response
of the speed control loop and
step response of the position control loop.
6 SUMMARY
For full utilisation of the potential performance offered by
modern digital drive technology on machine tools, the
dynamic overall behaviour of the mechanical structure, the
electrical drives, and control systems must be analysed
and optimized integrally during design of the machine.
The model approach for ball screw drives presented here
permits the modelling of ball screw feed drive systems
with universal FEM programs. This enables the entire
machine frame including the drive structures to be mod-
elled in an integral FEM model and the vibration behaviour
of the complete mechanical system to be analysed. The
procedure for modelling and analysis of ball screw feed
drive systems was presented using the example of the
feed axis of a feed drives test station. The simulation of
the axis control system was performed to demonstrate
that the FEM model generated by the method shown is a
suitable model for the behaviour of the mechanical control
path.
7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We extend our sincere thanks to the Bavarian Research
Foundation (Bayerische Forschungsstiftung) for the gen-
erous support of the work described in this paper.
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