A study on stress and vibration analysis of a steel and hybrid flexspline for harmonic drive

Abstract

The conventional speed reducer uses the concept of rigid bodies, but the harmonic drive is operated by the elastic theory. As for this, harmonic drive shows different characteristics in operation principles and analysis compared to the conventional ones. Flexspline with components of harmonic drive can generate repeated vibration by the wave generator. Thus flexspline should have a good vibration characteristic. In this paper, a study on stress, deformation and related vibration characteristics using the finite element method tool has been carried out on the flexspline as a part of speed reducer. The damping ratio of composite flexspline is also five times as high as that of the steel flexspline. As a result of this study, composite flexspline has shown an improved quality compared to the conventional steel flexspline at the natural frequency, stiffness and damping capacity. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.