Experimental investigation and model development for a harmonic drive transmission

摘要

Harmonic drive transmissions (HDTs) are compact, low-backlash, high-ratio, high-resolution rotary motion transmissions. One application to benefit from these attributes is the revolute joint robot. Engineers at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) are investigating the use of this type of robot for the positioning of an x-ray detector; understanding the properties of the robot components is crucial to modeling positioner behavior. The robot bearing elements had been investigated previously, leaving the transmission as the missing component. While the benefits of HDTs are well known, the disadvantages, including fluctuating dissipation characteristics and nonlinear stiffness, are not understood as well. These characteristics can contribute uncontrolled dynamics to the overall robot performance. A dynamometer has been constructed at the APS to experimentally measure the HDT's response. Empirical torque and position data were recorded for multiple transmission load cases and input conditions. In turn, a computer model of the dynamometer HDT system was constructed to approximate the observed response.