Measurement 186 (2021) 110109

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Measurement
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/measurement

Development of a real-time spalling measurement system for ball-type

constant velocity joints
Jun Song a, Dong Hyuk Kim b, Seong Han Kim c, *
a
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Gwanak-500, Gwanak-ro 1, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, South Korea
b
R&H Research Lab, Hyundai Motor Company, 150, Hyundaiyeonguso-ro, Namyang-eup, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do 18280, South Korea
c
School of Intelligent Mechatronics Engineering, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gunja-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05006, South Korea

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study proposes a measurement system to detect spalling phenomena of ball-type constant velocity joints
Real-time measurement system (CVJ). The spalling phenomena that usually occur in the inner race of a CVJ are a significant factor to the CVJ’s
Spalling life, but it is very difficult to measure the spalling because the inner race is mechanically enclosed by an outer
Adhesive wear
race and a cage. The developed system can not only detect the spalling but also measure the depth of adhesive
Kinematics implementation
Constant velocity joint (CVJ)
wear in real time by implementing kinematics and applying force to an individual ball-type CVJ.
The kinematics of a CVJ was analyzed to ensure that the measurement system operates the same as the actual
CVJ. Especially, reciprocal yaw motions in the ball-type CVJ were perfectly implemented to the system. The
system consists of three subsystems. The first system applies normal force to the contact points. Ball screws, spur
gears attached to the motor amplify the force. The second system creates the reciprocal yaw motion with the
same profiles as an actual CVJ. The third system is the measurement part, consisting of an incremental rotary
encoder and a load cell. The resolution of wear depth is amplified and achieves up to 0.18◦ /μm.
For validation, a ball-type CVJ was chosen and its spalling depth was measured. The results were verified by
comparing the system measurement data with the profilometer measurement data.

if spalling occurs, lots of problems such as vibration and noise occur; in

1. Introduction
When a vehicle is in motion, the constant velocity joints (CVJ) not
only transmit torque from the engine to the wheels at the same rota­
tional speed but also adapt to the vertical movement caused by a bumpy
road. The inboard-type CVJ is mounted at the transmission and con­
nected to the drive shaft. It allows relatively small articulation angles
and large axial displacements. A tripod type is usually used as the
inboard CVJ. The outboard-type CVJ is mounted at the wheel and
connected to the drive shaft. This type of CVJ allows relatively large
articulation angles, allowing the wheel to be steered. A ball-type is
usually used as the outboard CVJ [1].
Fig. 1 shows the components of a ball-type CVJ, which comprises an
outer race, an inner race, a cage, and balls. On the other hand, a tripod-
type is composed of three roller sets; each set is divided into a spherical
roller, needle bearing set, and trunnion [2,3].
A CVJ always operates under frictional conditions in that wear al­
ways occurs between the CVJ contact points. If the amount of wear
exceeds a specific level designated by the automobile parts company or
other words, the CVJ fails to function [4,5]. This can be annoying or
worrisome to the driver and can even affect the life of the vehicle.
Therefore, the life of CVJs is a significant consideration for automobile
manufacturers, and it is imperative for the manufacturers to be able to
measure the depth of wear and spalling of CVJs to provide the appro­
priate car maintenance [6].
In CVJs, adhesive wear and spalling are known to be the major
causes of failures [7]. Adhesive wear can be described as the continuous
removal of very small fragments of plastic deformation from contact
points. Spalling results from local cracks in the worn material. Local
cracks are propagated by constant friction, which leads to a large mass of
material falling off [8]. These phenomena arise in both type of CVJs, but
failures of these two joint types manifest in different ways. In ball-type
CVJs, failures caused by spalling are predominant, while in tripod-type
CVJs, failures due to adhesive wear occur rather than due to spalling
[9,10]. Because of the difference in failure mode between two types of
CVJs, it is necessary to use a different method to test each type of CVJ
when measuring wear. However, wear of CVJs has usually been
measured with an assembly in which the inboard- and outboard-type are

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: fkqnfkqn3@snu.ac.kr (J. Song), kimdonghyuk@hyundai.com (D.H. Kim), shkim8@sejong.ac.kr (S.H. Kim).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2021.110109
Received 28 June 2021; Received in revised form 10 August 2021; Accepted 28 August 2021
Available online 1 September 2021
0263-2241/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Song et al. Measurement 186 (2021) 110109

Ball-type CVJs are complex structures but can be thought of as ball

Nomenclature bearings in terms of the driving mechanism. They consist of raceways,
which have a groove track, cage, and balls. Many studies on spalling
β articulation angle between inner and outer race (deg.) measurement or fault diagnosis in ball bearings predict spalling indi­
γ angle between inner race PCR and joint center PCR rectly through signal processing, which detects changes in vibration or
(deg.) noise, instead of measuring spalling directly. Renaudin has developed a
θb in contact angle between ball set and outer inner race system that can diagnose bearing failures in real time [12]. He predicted
(deg.) spalling indirectly by measuring the fluctuations of rotational speed in
δ offset between inner race center and joint center (deg.) his study. Alian performed a ball bearing fault diagnosis and measured
→ contact point vector between ball-inner race spalling depth directly by placing a fiber-optic sensor inside the bearings
lbi
[13].
ui
→ axis vector of inner race Measurement of the depth of wear using a profilometer is generally a
αbi angle between ball center vector and inner race shaft method that ensures high accuracy and reliability, but it is inevitable
(deg.) that the part to be measured must be disassembled for every measure­
PCRb pitch circle radius of rotational center of ball set (m) ment. This results in an unnecessary increase in measurement time [14].
φ rotation angle in outer race (deg.) Accordingly, this study proposes a new measurement system that can
rb ball radius (m) measure the wear depth and detect spalling in ball-type CVJs accurately
θb out contact angle between ball set and outer race (deg.) in less time.
→
lb relative coordinate vector of ball center The measurement system can exert torque as it rotates the CVJs, and
→ contact point vector between ball-outer race it can also measure depth of wear and detect spalling simultaneously. To
lbo
→ develop the measurement system, the kinematics of ball-type CVJs was
uo axis vector of outer race
analyzed, and the system simulated the analysis to produce the same
A, B, C, D coordinate transform matrix
motion profile as the real CVJ motion profile. The spalling measurement
system uses two servo motors for the kinematics of CVJs and motor
drivers to control the servo motors. A rotary encoder is adopted to
measure the amount of wear and to detect spalling. A load cell is also
adopted not only to detect spalling but also used as a feedback sensor
when the servo motor applies forces to the CVJ. The spur gear set and
ball screws amplify the angular sensitivity to the wear depth as much as
the gear ratio and the lead size. Finally, the encoder measures the
amplified value. The amplification that results from the ball screw and
spur gears provides a highly sensitive angle to wear depth ratio. Finally,
to ensure the reliability of the developed spalling measurement system,
validation tests were performed.
In the previous study, a wear measurement system for tripod-type
CVJs was proposed [15]. Compared to the previous measurement sys­
tem, the measurement system for ball-type CVJs in this study achieves
several advancements such as reduction of the number of servo motors,
use of CVJ assembly, and these advancements lead to high controlla­
bility, less preparation time for tests, and finally high reliability of the
system.
Unlike most studies that employ indirect ways to measure the wear
Fig. 1. A schematic diagram of the components of a ball-type CVJ. depth of CVJs, the measurement system in this study directly measures
the wear depth and detect spalling phenomena in real-time while the
connected by a drive shaft. In this way, a CVJ assembly is driven by a system applies the same motion of an actual CVJ. The measurement
dynamometer to run the CVJ and a profilometer is used for the mea­ system achieves 0.18◦ /μm measurement accuracy. With these advan­
surement of the wear amount inside the CVJ. However, to make the CVJ tages, a ball-type CVJ does not require disassembly or additional
measurable, it should be disassembled and some parts, such as the inner manufacturing processes to measure wear depth. Consequently, this will
race of the ball type and the housing track of the tripod type, have to be significantly reduce preparation time for measurement.
cut off [11].

Fig. 2. Cross section view of contact points & parameters: (a) side (b) front.

2
J. Song et al. Measurement 186 (2021) 110109

Fig. 3. Center trajectory of single ball.

2. Kinematics

2.1. Contact point analysis and kinematics

To detect spalling in ball-type CVJs accurately, the spalling mea­

surement system needs to operate with the same motion as the motion of
real CVJs. Therefore, the ball-type CVJs kinematics must be analyzed
prior to developing the spalling measurement system. Unlike the tripod-
type CVJ analyzed in the previous study [15], a ball-type CVJ does not
allows axial displacements due to its structure characteristics. Instead,
an offset exists between the inner race plane and the outer race plane,
which causes an eccentricity between those planes. Accordingly, kine­
matic analysis on the ball-type CVJ requires the consideration of these
eccentricity and offset as well as the rotation of coordinate.
As shown in Fig. 2, there are five types of contact points in ball-type
CVJs as they are in motion: between the inner race and the ball set, the
outer race and the ball set, the cage and the ball set, the outer race and
the cage, and the inner race and the cage. These contact points are one-
point contacts. The contact point where wear begins first and that usu­
ally fails first is between the inner race and the ball set, so this is the
main factor affecting the life of ball-type CVJs [16]. Because a ball-type
CVJ usually has six or eight balls at an interval of 60◦ or 45◦ , respec­
tively, they usually have 30 or 45 contact points [17,18].
Fig. 2 shows the (a) side section and (b) close-up views of a ball type Fig. 4. Position vectors of contact points.
CVJ with six balls. PCRb is the PCR of the rotational center of the ball set.
rb is the ball radius. θb in is the contact angle between the ball set and the manufacturing clearance and elastic deformation due to operating tor­
inner race. θb out is the contact angle between the ball set and the outer que [19].
race, and δ is an offset between the inner race center and joint center. With the relative positions, relative position vectors of the contact
As the CVJ begins to operate, the contact points also start to change point between the ball and the inner race → can be calculated. The
lbi
relative to the movement. The relative positions and the ball center
relative position vectors of the contact point between the ball and the
trajectory, when the CVJ is articulated by β, are shown in Fig. 3. One
outer race → can be calculated in the same way. Fig. 4 shows these
contact point between the inner race and the ball is shown in Fig. 2b. As lbo
shown in the close-up view of Fig. 2, it looks like two point contacts, but relative position vectors. The equations are as follows:
it is a one-point contact when the CVJs operate because of

3
J. Song et al. Measurement 186 (2021) 110109

⎛ ⎞
l
→ ⎝ bi,x ⎠
lbi = lbi,y
lbi,z
⎧ ⎛ ⎞⎫
⎪
⎪ ⎧ ⎛ ⎞ ⎛ ⎞⎫ 0 ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨ ⎨ 0 0 ⎬ ⎜ ⎪
⎬
− 1⎝ ⎜ β⎟
⎟
= DC − 1
B − 1
A − rb cosθb− in ⎠ − ⎝ − PCRb ⎠ − ⎜− δsin ⎟
⎪
⎪ ⎩ ⎭ ⎝ 2 ⎪
⎠ ⎪
⎪
⎩ rb sinθb− in 0 ⎪
⎭
0
(1)
⎛ ⎞
l
̅→ ⎝ bo,x ⎠
lbo = lbo,y
lbo,z
⎧
⎪
⎪ ⎧ ⎛ ⎞
⎪
⎨ ⎨ 0
= DC− 1 B− 1 A− 1 ⎝ rb cosθb− out ⎠ Fig. 5. Yaw motion profile.
⎪
⎪ ⎩
⎪
⎩ − rb sinθb− out
⎛ ⎞⎫ shaft reciprocates around the joint center in the fixed outer race [20].
⎛ ⎞⎫ 0 ⎪
⎪
⎪ Accordingly, the slip motion can be analyzed by deriving the angle be­
0 ⎬ ⎜ ⎬
⎜ β⎟
⎟ tween the inner race and the outer race according to the phase angle.
− ⎝ − PCRb ⎠ − ⎜− δsin ⎟ (2)
0
⎭ ⎝ 2 ⎪
⎠ ⎪
⎪ This can be derived by superimposing the angle between the relative
⎭
0 coordinates of the ball center and the inner race and the outer race shaft
⎛ ⎞ vector, respectively, according to the phase angle. The following are the
cos( − γ) sin( − γ) 0 equations for the yaw motion:
Where, A = − sin( − γ) cos( − γ) 0 ⎠
⎝ ⎧ ⎛ ⎞⎫
0 0 1 ⎛ ⎞ ⎪
⎪ ⎧ ⎛ ⎞⎫ 0 ⎪
⎪
l ⎪
⎨ ⎨ 0 ⎬ ⎜ ⎟⎪⎬
→ ⎝ b,x ⎠ ⎜ β ⎟
⎛ ⎞ lb = lb,y = DC − 1
B − 1
A − 1⎝
PCRb ⎠ − ⎜ − δsin ⎟ (4)
1 0 0 ⎪
⎪ ⎩ ⎭ ⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎪
⎪
lb,z ⎪
⎩ 0 ⎪
⎭
B = ⎝0 cos(φ) sin(φ) ⎠ 0
0 − sin(φ) cos(φ)
→
⎛ ( ) ( ) ⎞ lb ∙→ ui π
β β αbi = cos− 1 (√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
⃒→⃒ )− (5)
⎜ cos − sin − 0⎟ ⃒ ⃒→ 2
⎜ 2 2 ⎟ ⃒ lb ⃒| ui |
⎜ ( ) ( ) ⎟
C=⎜
⎜ − sin − β β ⎟
⎜ cos − 0⎟
⎟ →
⎝ 2 2 ⎠ lb ∙u → π
(6)
o
αbo = cos− 1 (√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
⃒→⃒ )−
0 0 1 ⃒ ⃒→ 2
⃒ lb ⃒|uo |
⎛ ⎞
cos( − β) sin( − β) 0
D = ⎝ − sin( − β) cos( − β) 0⎠ (3) α = αbi + αbo (7)
0 0 1
→
where lb is the relative coordinate vector of the ball center according to
where φ is the rotation angle in the plane of outer race. γ is the angle
the phase angle derived in the same way as Eq. (1) and (2). αbi is the
between the inner race PCR and the joint center PCR. A, B, C, and D are
angle between the ball center vector and the inner race shaft. αbo is the
coordinate transformation matrices. β is the articulation angle between
angle between the ball center vector and the outer race shaft. → ui and →
uo
the outer race and the drive shaft. Eq. (1) consists of three terms. The
are axis vectors along the inner race and the outer race shaft, respec­
first is the relative coordinate of the ball center from the outer race
tively. α is the slip motion profile of CVJ according to phase angle.
plane. The second is a contact point vector in the ball rotation center
From Eqs. (4)–(7), the ball rolls and slides along the inner race
coordinates. The third refers to the offset between the inner race center
groove in wave form profile, while the CVJ rotates. The slip motion
and the joint center. Likewise, Eq. (2) is also derived by the sum of three
profiles of the CVJ according to phase angle is shown in Fig. 5.
terms.
Eq. (3) is the relative coordinate transformation matrix according to
3. The spalling measurement system
articulation angle β, the angles between the inner race PCR, γ, and the
rotation angle φ. A is also the transformation matrix by angle − γ about
The goal of this study is the development of spalling measurement
the z-axis. B is the transformation matrix by angle φ about the x-axis. C is
system which can measure the spalling of ball-type CVJs accurately.
the transformation matrix by angle − 2β about the z-axis. D is the trans­
Because most spalling occurs on the inner race, this study simplified the
formation matrix by angle − β about the z-axis.
ball-type CVJs by excluding several parts, especially four of six balls, and
by cutting some sections of the outer race so as to focus on the dominant
2.2. Slip motion factors—the inner race and ball—to improve accuracy. For the purpose
of CVJ driving conditions, the ball-type CVJs kinematics has to be
The relative movement between the inner race and the ball set is applied to the system.
described as a reciprocal yaw motion. Likewise, the movement between
the outer race and the ball set is also a reciprocal yaw motion. This 3.1. Kinematics implementation
means the ball set repeatedly moves along the inner race and the outer
race groove within a certain angle. In actual CVJ operation, the ball The spalling measurement system is shown in Fig. 6. The system is
moves along the groove as the outer race shaft and the inner race shaft composed of three main parts. The purpose of the first part is to apply
rotate. From the ball point of view, it can be seen that the inner race forces to contact points. This part comprises a servo motor (servo motor

4
J. Song et al.
Fig. 6. Spalling measurement system.
1), a driving spur gear, a following pair of spur gears, and a pair of ball
screws. Servo motor 1 which is mounted on the top of the system applies
torque to the CVJs. A driving spur gear is connected to the shaft of the
servo motor. The following two spur gears are mounted at both sides of
the driving spur gear. The gear ratio is 2 so that the torque generated by
servo motor 1 is doubled through the gear set. The interaction between
the contact points of the CVJ’s inner parts is not a torque but a force, so a
pair of ball screws convert the torque that passes through the spur gears
to a normal force. The two ball screws are located on each following spur
gear, respectively. Not only does the ball screw convert a torque into a
normal force but it also amplifies the normal force. The two ball screws,
5
Measurement 186 (2021) 110109
which are 5 mm lead screws, are connected to each following spur gear
so that these can deliver forces in balance. As shown in Figs. 7 and 8,
Fixture 1 is installed between the ball screws, and connected to the ball
screws and the inner race. It delivers a normal force from the ball screws
to the inner race directly. Fixture 1 is supported by two ball bearings to
prevent the perpendicular misalignment of Fixture 1. The normal force
generated from Servo motor 1 is controlled in real time according to the
data measured by the load cell.
The purpose of the second part is to reciprocate the yaw motion. In
the case of a tripod-type CVJ, two relative slip motions between the
spherical roller and housing track occur – reciprocating stroke and yaw
J. Song et al. Measurement 186 (2021) 110109

Fig. 7. Force applying part of the system.

Fig. 8. Exploded view of Fixture 1.

Fig. 9. Reciprocating yaw motion part of the system.

motions. The stroke motion represents the motion of a spherical roller
along the housing track and the yaw motion represents the motion
caused by the tripod-type CVJ’s articulation angle. In order to imple­
ment these motions into the tripod-type CVJ wear measurement system,
two servo motors were employed in the previous study [15]. On the
other hand, the relative motions between the balls and the inner races in
a ball-type CVJ are more complicated than in a tripod-type CVJ because
two dimensional motions along the inner races are not represented by
the combination of linear and rotational motions. Therefore, the whole
inner race is rotated by a single servo motor to implement the same
motion as the ball-type CVJ into the spalling measurement system. By
reducing a driving part, compared to the tripod-type CVJ wear mea­
surement system, the system’s controllability is improved, and it leads to
high reliability of the system.

6
J. Song et al.
Fig. 10. Spalling and wear measurement part of the system.
Fig. 9 shows that the yaw motion of a ball-type CVJ’s inner race is
implemented through a servo motor (Servo motor 2) and a specific
linkage mechanism. In this study, “Scotch-yoke mechanism” is applied
to the measurement system, which is a linkage mechanism that converts
a rotating motion to a reciprocating linear motion. It is composed of a
bull wheel (a rotating part mounted at the motor shaft) and a slide yoke
[21]. However, in this study, the Scotch-yoke mechanism is slightly
modified so that the rotating motion is not converted to a reciprocating
linear motion but rather to a reciprocating yaw motion. A reciprocating
yaw motion is a reciprocating rotation within a certain limited angle.
Figs. 7–9 show the mechanism of the motion. The outer race is fixed
to a jig, and the inner race is connected to Fixture 1. Two balls and a cage
are located at a specific position between the outer race and the inner
race according to the CVJ design. Normal forces, which are generated
from Servo motor 1 and delivered to the ball screws, are applied to
Fixture 1. The inner race connected to Fixture 1 pushes down the balls
and the outer race; as a result, normal forces are applied between the
inner race and the two balls. If Servo motor 2 starts to operate in the
contact state like this, the bull wheel rotates together. A crank instead of
a slide yoke, which has a slot at the end, is pinned by a pin of the bull
wheel. The other end is connected to Fixture 1, so as the bull wheel
rotates, the crank creates a reciprocating yaw motion. When the bull
wheel rotates eccentrically because of the pin, it can cause vibration of
the entire system. To eliminate eccentricity, the bull wheel is designed in
a fan shape and a ball bearing is pinned between the crank slot and the
bull wheel. It decreases noise and vibration induced by friction at the
contact points between those parts.
In the case of the tripod-type CVJ wear measurement system devel­
oped in the previous study, only a certain part of the housing track was
used in experiments due to the motion implementation of the tripod-
type CVJ. However, for the ball-type spalling measurement system
developed in this study, only a small part of the ball-type CVJ is
sectioned and the entire CVJ is used in experiments as shown in Fig. 8.
3.2. Spalling measurement mechanism
The last part of the system is for spalling measurement. This part
measures the depth of wear and detects spalling. In this study, two types
of measurement device—a load cell and a rotary encoder—are adopted
to detect spalling and to monitor wear in real time. Firstly, the load cell
is mounted between Fixture 1 and the ball screw as shown in Fig. 10.
One of the roles of the load cell is to provide real time data feedback that
is used by Servo motor 1 to maintain a specified normal force value. Not
7
Measurement 186 (2021) 110109
Table 1
Specifications of system.
Rated normal force (N) 20,000
Rated yaw speed (rpm) 1500
Spur gear ratio 2
Ball screw lead (mm) 5
Encoder resolution (PPR) 213
Angle to wear depth sensitivity (degree/μm) 0.18
Resolution of wear depth (μm) 0.3
only this, but the load cell performs an important role in detecting
spalling, which is the main purpose of the spalling measurement system.
Most ball-type CVJ failure is caused by spalling as mentioned in Section
1. When spalling occurs inside a CVJ, vibration of the measurement
system increases rapidly because of abnormal contacts at the worn
surface, which enables the load cell to measure surge forces, so it can be
one of the spalling detection parameters.
The incremental rotary encoder as well as the load cell is used to
detect spalling through the amount of rotation. The encoder can not only
detect spalling but can also be used to monitor and measure the amount
of adhesive wear continuously. Fig. 10 shows the rotary encoder, which
is mounted between Servo motor 1 and the driving spur gear. An indirect
measurement method that contains several stages is adopted to detect
spalling and to measure adhesive wear by using the rotary encoder. If
wear caused by rolling and sliding occurs between contact points in a
ball-type CVJ, Servo motor 1 rotates, which pushes the ball screw down
to maintain the normal force between the contact points. Then, the ro­
tary encoder measures the angle changes of Servo motor 1. As the
amount of wear between the contact points grows and the depth of the
wear increases, the depth of wear can be measured indirectly through
the rotation angle measured by the rotary encoder. If spalling occurs in
the process of adhesive wear, on the other hand, Servo motor 1 rotates
relatively widely and rapidly, and the ball screw moves down to a depth
corresponding to the thickness of the flake that falls off in a short time.
Thus, spalling can also be detected by measuring the amount of the
rotation of the encoder. As much as the normal force delivered from
Servo motor 1 is amplified due to the gear ratio (2:1) and the ball screw
lead (5 mm), the corresponding angular sensitivity to wear depth is
accurate. This is achieved up to 0.18◦ /μm. Table. 1 shows the spalling
measurement system specifications.
J. Song et al.
Table 2
Specifications of CVJ.
Ball center PCR (Pitch Circle Radius) (m) 0.0288
Ball radius (m) 0.0087
Offset between inner race center and joint center (m) 0.0043
Contact angle between inner race and ball (deg) 31.040
Contact angle between outer race and ball (deg) 21.415
3.3. Control of the system and user interface
As described in Section 3.1, the spalling measurement system con­
tains two servo motors, one load cell, and one incremental rotary
encoder. Other than these, the system also employs two motor drivers
which operates servo motors, one motion controller which controls the
servo motors, and one universal motion interface board. Also, a data
acquisition device is adopted to acquire measurement data from the load
cell and the rotary encoder. The motion controller should operate
without error with the data acquisition device for accurate measure­
ment. Accordingly, a real-time controller is employed to synchronize
them in real time. Finally, a host computer operates this integrated
control system. While the system is running, the system status can be
monitored and the operator can enter additional commands because the
subcontrollers are controlled by the real-time controller, which runs in a
closed-loop with the motion controller and the data acquisition device.
When the system starts, the Servo motor 2 starts to rotate, which
make the inner-race move according to the reciprocating yaw motion
profile produced by the Scotch yoke mechanism. The reciprocating yaw
motions should operate under the same profiles as the real CVJ profiles,
which originated from actual driving conditions; therefore, the CVJ ki­
nematics described in Section 2 is programmed in the system. Servo
motor 2 is controlled under a speed-control mode. If the operator enters
an actual CVJ driving condition on the user interface, Servo motor 2 is
automatically controlled to match the actual motion profile though a
feedback of the encoder.
Servo motor 1 performs a role of applying normal forces between the
CVJ contact points, so Servo motor 1 is controlled under a torque-control
mode and receives feedback from the load cell. If the operator enters a
torque value that is an actual driving condition, the motor is automat­
ically controlled based on the CVJ kinematics. Servo motor 1 is con­
nected to the ball screws through the spur gears, so that a small torque of
the motor can be easily amplified and converted to large normal force
due to the gear ratio and the lead of ball screw, which means a motor
should be employed appropriately according to the scale of the CVJs.
For the validation of the developed system, a CVJ of a small-sized
vehicle was adopted. Accordingly, the amplification factors are 2:1 of
spur gear ratio, 5 mm of ball screw lead, 70 Nm of rated torque for Servo
motor 1, and 1500 rpm of rated rotational speed for Servo motor 2.
The spalling measurement system is coded using Matlab and Lab­
view. The operator can change torque and rotational speed during the
experiments. Likewise, other key parameters can be changed by entering
commands to the user interface. Kinematics is calculated through Mat­
lab code, and then the calculated values are applied to Labview in real
time. Current depth position and normal force are plotted on the user
interface as a graph. In addition, the temperature at the contact points
measured through a thermocouple is also plotted as well as other status
and is maintained to match the actual driving condition.
4. Validation
To validate the spalling measurement system, two kinds of procedure
were performed. The validation of kinematics implementation was
performed, and then the validation of the spalling measurement was
performed.
8
Measurement 186 (2021) 110109
Fig. 11. Motion profile comparison.
Table 3
Experimental conditions.
CVJ driving condition Experimental condition
Articulation angle 5 Articulation angle 5
(degree) (degree)
Torque (Nm) 1000, 1400 Normal force (N) 13420
Speed (rpm) 400, 800, Max. sliding speed (mm/ 5.26
1200 s)
4.1. Kinematics implementation
As described in Section 2, the kinematics of CVJs, especially the
relative motion profile between an inner race and balls, was analyzed in
detail. Because the reciprocating yaw motion of the spalling measure­
ment is designed to correspond to an actual CVJ motion profile, it is
necessary to compare them for validation. The validation of the kine­
matics implementation comprises two steps. Before comparing the mo­
tion profiles, a specific CVJ was designated whose specifications are
shown in Table. 2. First, the kinematics was completely analyzed for the
designated CVJ, and then the relative motion profile between the inner
race and balls was achieved. Second, the geometry of the CVJ and its
operating mechanism was implemented to the spalling measurement
system, and then the reciprocal yaw motion profile of the system was
achieved. The results of the comparison, shown in Fig. 11, indicate that
the reciprocating yaw motion is almost the same as the real CVJ motion.
The maximum difference of yaw angle (actual–system) is 0.0163◦ , and
the minimum difference of yaw angle is 0. As an entire yaw angle of
travel is from − 5◦ to 5◦ , the differences of yaw angle are negligible. As a
result, the reliability of the reciprocating yaw motion in the spalling
measurement system was validated.
4.2. Spalling measurement
The validation of spalling detection was performed by comparing the
measurement system results with the results from a profilometer. In the
measurement procedure, certain experimental conditions were selected.
As per the theoretical methods described in Section 3, the actual con­
ditions were converted to experimental conditions by using the kine­
matics of CVJs. Table 3 shows the experimental conditions.
CVJs fail to function when noise and a vibration increases sharply as
spalling occurs or when adhesive wear exceeds a certain value [12].
From the point of view of spalling detection and the adhesive wear that
continuously occurs prior to spalling, this study measured spalling mo­
ments by detecting a sudden rotation of the rotary encoder. After the
occurrence of spalling, the inner races were disassembled to confirm if
spalling had occurred, and the depth of the carved surfaces were
measured by the profilometer. The peak value of the encoder was con­
verted to a depth value, and then the value was compared to the results
J. Song et al. Measurement 186 (2021) 110109

Fig. 12. Mechanism of depth measurement (a) developed system (b) profilometer.

affect the measurement with the system considering its measuring

mechanism. On the other hand, this chip is measured with the profil­
ometer. This can result in a larger measurement result with the profil­
ometer than with the system. The error rate is defined as the percentage
of the difference over the wear depth by the profilometer. The minimum
error rate is 3.0 % at 1000 Nm and 400 rpm and the maximum error rate
is 12.7 % at 1400 Nm and 400 rpm. Fig. 14 shows the wear depth dif­
ference and the error rate between the developed system and the
profilometer.
Since the validity of the final wear depth is ensured, it can be
assumed that the reliability of the continuous wear depth measurements
is verified. Fig. 15 shows the depth of wear data according to time from
the start of a test to the end point when spalling occurs. The trend of
wear shows that the depth of wear has three stages. In the early phase,
the depth of wear increases relatively rapidly to a certain point. In the
later phase, the rate of wear decreases, and the wear increases steadily
and slowly. Then the depth of wear sharply increases, which indicates
the occurrence of spalling in the final stage. This tendency can be seen in
all the experimental conditions.

Fig. 13. Depth of wear measured by the system and the profilometer.

measured by the profilometer. Fig. 12 shows the difference in mea­

surements between the spalling measurement system and the profil­
ometer. The spalling measurement system measures depth in a vertical
direction as the inner race mounted at Fixture 1 moves down. On the
other hand, the profilometer measures the surface profile by dragging
the tip along the surface of the inner race. Thus, the measured depth
using the profilometer is perpendicular to the surface of the inner race.
Fig. 13 and Table 4 show the wear depth results and their differences
with the profilometer and the developed system. The experiments were
performed twice for each experimental condition. As shown in Fig. 13,
even though under the same experimental condition, the wear depth
results are slightly different because the size of the flakes falling off at
each test are different. When comparing the results from the measure­
ment system with the results from the profilometer, the data from the
profilometer presents lower values throughout the entire experimental
conditions. This may result from the difference in the measurement
mechanisms of the two systems as described in Fig. 12. However, at #2 –
1200 rpm – 1000 Nm, the profilometer result is larger than the mea­
surement system result. Sometimes, instead of delaminating the surface,
Fig. 14. Wear depth difference and error rate between the system and the
a very small chip falls off the surface. This chip is so small that it does not
profilometer.

Table 4
Measurement data comparison.
Driving torque (Nm) 1000 1400

Driving speed (rpm) 400 800 1200 400 800

Experimental number #1 #2 #1 #2 #1 #2 #1 #2 #1 #2

Wear depth (μm) Profilometer 192 203 245 231 259 266 244 224 254 281
Measurement system 185 197 226 202 241 274 213 202 245 262
Difference (μm) 7 6 19 29 18 8 31 22 9 19
Error rate (%) 3.6 3.0 7.8 12.6 6.9 3.0 12.7 9.8 3.5 6.8

9
J. Song et al.
Fig. 15. Continuous depth of wear measured by the system.
5. Conclusion
In this study, a new real-time spalling measurement system is
introduced. The system measures the moment when spalling occurs and
measure its depth as well while it applies torque and rotation to a ball-
type CVJ. First, the kinematics of a ball-type CVJ was analyzed, and in
particular, the acting forces between the contact points and the recip­
rocal yaw motions were completely derived. This kinematics results
were applied to the measurement system to simulate the same motion as
that of CVJs under actual driving conditions.
The spalling measurement system is composed of three parts.
• The first part is to apply normal forces between the contact points of
the outer race, the ball, and the inner race. This consists of a servo
motor, a driving spur gear, and a following pair of spur gears. A pair
10
Measurement 186 (2021) 110109
of ball screws are connected to each opposite side of the following
spur gears to balance and transmit forces to the CVJ.
• The second part is to reciprocate the yaw motion of the ball-type
CVJ. This part uses a Scotch-yoke mechanism to make the CVJ
move in a specific angular range.
• The third part is a measurement part which consists of two sensors.
The first is a load cell mounted on Fixture 1 in the middle of the ball
screw. It detects spalling by measuring the surge forces caused by a
vibration. The second is a rotary encoder located between the servo
motor 1 and the driving spur gear. It not only detects a spalling by
measuring the amount of rotation but also measures adhesive wear
depths. The spur gear set and ball screws amplify the angular
sensitivity to wear depth by their gear ratio and lead size. Finally,
0.18◦ /μm angular sensitivity of wear depth is achieved.
To validate the system, a particular ball-type CVJ was selected. The
J. Song et al.
wear depth of the CVJ was continuously measured by the developed
system. The developed system was validated by comparing the results of
the developed system with that of a profilometer. As a result, the wear
depth obtained by the developed system was found to be accurate and
reliable under all experimental conditions. The minimum and maximum
differences between the measurement results are 6 and 29 μm, respec­
tively, and the error rate is from 3.0 to 12.7 %.
Despite the high accuracy of the system, its measurement results are
slightly lower than those of the profilometer under most experimental
conditions, and this is due to the measurement mechanism difference of
two systems as shown in Fig. 12. Given that most wear depths are
currently measured by profilometers and this is considered a measure­
ment standard, it may be necessary to convert the measurement results
of the developed system in this way. For an accurate conversion equa­
tion, further research to acquire a large amount of data is required.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Jun Song: Writing – original draft, Software, Formal analysis. Dong
Hyuk Kim: Data curation, Visualization. Seong Han Kim: Conceptu­
alization, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing, Super­
vision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
This research was supported by Korea Institute for Advancement of
Technology (KIAT) grant funded by the Korea Government (MOTIE)
(N0002431, The Competency Development Program for Industry
Specialist). This research was supported by the National Research
Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government
(MSIT) (2020R1C1C1008068). This research was supported by the MSIT
(Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the ITRC (Information
Technology Research Center) support program (IITP-2021-2016-0-
00312) supervised by the IITP (Institute for Information & communi­
cations Technology Planning & Evaluation).
11
Measurement 186 (2021) 110109
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