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By Michael Boudreau, P.Eng., Utility Engineering Supervisor, Rollvis SA
You is probably not acquainted with curler screws, however these compact, high-efficiency screw drives are an vital expertise within the manufacturing of on a regular basis gadgets and merchandise. The truth is, there have been in all probability greater than 20 curler screws concerned within the manufacture and meeting of your car – performing features akin to punching, tube bending, and riveting.
However curler screws aren’t only for automotive functions and heavy industries akin to injection molding and machining. Quite the opposite – curler screws can produce the smallest displacements (actions) of any screw expertise whereas sustaining extraordinarily quiet and clean operation, making them perfect for functions in all kinds of robotic fields.
What robots want: Excessive effectivity, compact dimension
In the case of precision screw applied sciences, there are three primary decisions: lead screws, ball screws, and curler screws. Lead screws are versatile of their design and materials choices, however they undergo from comparatively poor effectivity and cargo capability. Ball screws have good effectivity, however when the applying requires a small screw diameter and low lead, load capability suffers as a result of the load-carrying balls should even be very small. Curler screws, however, have good thrust drive capabilities in a compact total dimension, together with wonderful effectivity – one of the best of all worlds. Living proof: When evaluating the load capability and effectivity values for various screw applied sciences of comparable diameters, all with a 1 mm lead, a curler screw has 4 instances the load capability of a ball screw with effectivity that’s twice as excessive as that of a lead screw.
A curler screw with a 1 mm lead has 4 instances the load capability of a equally sized ball screw and twice the effectivity of a equally sized lead screw.
This mix of efficiency and design traits makes curler screws an excellent answer for a lot of robotic and robot-related functions. For instance, robots that use linear activation for joint linkages (much like the way in which your bicep muscle controls the motion of your forearm) profit from the upper load score and decrease weight of curler screw actuators.
In robotic gripper functions, curler screws can present the extraordinarily excessive ranges of holding drive which are required for safe clamping – and might accomplish that with a minimal torque enter. The important thing to this mixture of excessive drive and low enter torque is to make use of a screw with a really small lead, such because the Rollvis RVR kind recirculating curler screw, which may be manufactured with leads all the way down to 0.5 mm and even 0.25 mm
Curler screws can be utilized in robotic finish of arm tooling. In these functions, the curler screw’s capability to provide excessive thrust in a small package deal offers a bonus over different options. It’s because holding weight (mass) low is critically vital for parts that sit on the finish of a robotic arm. Heavy hundreds situated on the finish of the robotic arm create vital inertia, making exact management of the robotic’s motion harder and, in some instances, requiring bigger motors and different drivetrain parts. This wonderful power-to-weight ratio is a key motive why robotic spot welders and auto riveters overwhelmingly use curler screws for actuation.
Traits in robotics and cellular functions
Trendy computing, manufacturing strategies and battery expertise have led to speedy developments in automation and electrification, creating a bunch of latest robotics and cellular functions that weren’t doable just some years in the past. One instance is the event of lively prostheses (prosthetics which are powered by motors), which vastly enhance perform and use for amputees.
In contrast to giant industrial robots, during which every joint makes use of its personal motor and gearbox, many lively prosthetics use screw-driven linear actuation, which permits for a smaller, lighter, and stronger design. Whereas numerous varieties of screws can be utilized in lively prostheses, curler screws provide an vital profit over different applied sciences – an unmatched performance-to-size ratio. For instance, a curler screw with a diameter of simply 3.5 mm – sufficiently small to slot in the palm of your hand – can push hundreds as much as 500 lb and execute actions within the micron and sub-micron vary, to higher mimic human joints and fingers.
The adoption of powered prostheses and powered exoskeletons relies upon largely on developments that make these gadgets smaller, lighter-weight, and extra user-friendly. Curler screws contribute to all three of those goals by offering actuation capabilities within the micron and sub-micron vary, for actions that higher replicate human joints and fingers. Picture courtesy of T. Lenzi, College of Utah
Powered exoskeletons are one other rapidly-growing robotic expertise. The truth is, the exoskeleton market is projected to develop by greater than 46 p.c from 2021 to 2026, with powered exoskeletons making up the bigger share of this progress (as in comparison with passive exoskeletons)1.
Though we might love to have the ability to program robots to tackle any guide job that’s too heavy or dangerous for people, there are simply too many variables for this to be sensible for a lot of functions, akin to trimming branches from bushes in residential yards. The answer is a human-driven (exoskeleton) or actively managed robotic. This answer combines human resolution making with decrease danger, fewer accidents, and elevated lifting capability. And like prostheses, exoskeletons face design constraints associated to weight, dimension, and complexity. Right here, too, the extraordinarily excessive force-to-size and force-to-weight ratio, make curler screws an excellent answer.
And the smaller and extra cellular a robotic utility turns into, the extra that attributes akin to energy consumption, dimension, and weight turn into constraining elements. Whether or not it’s drones, autonomous underwater automobiles (AUVs), or space-based rovers, the calls for are comparable: excessive effectivity, power, and reliability within the smallest doable footprint. Regardless of the dimension, type issue, or utility, Rollvis gives a curler screw design that may present the best mixture of thrust drive, dimension, weight, and effectivity to enhance efficiency and reliability.
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