Industrial robots are a shining pearl in the modern industrial era, illuminating the efficient path of modern enterprise production and continuously empowering cost reduction and efficiency improvement in the industrial production process. What endows industrial robots with superhuman abilities and supports their efficient operation? This is a complex system that requires layers of decryption.
Today, let's explore one of the core components of industrial robots: harmonic reducer. Harmonic reducers play a role similar to the human joint system and are the core components for achieving effective motion and precise control of industrial robots. Harmonic reducer is a common term for harmonic gear drive. Harmonic gear transmission devices can actually be used for both deceleration and acceleration, but due to their large transmission ratio (usually 50-160), they are often used for deceleration in industrial robots, CNC machine tools, and other electromechanical products, and are commonly referred to as harmonic reducers.
In the human body structure, the joint system is the part that connects bones, enabling humans to perform various flexible movements and actions. The joint system can rotate and move bones under the action of muscles, enabling the human body to perform complex movements such as walking, running, weightlifting, etc. The joint system plays a role in transmission and deceleration during human movement, enabling the human body to efficiently complete various tasks.
Similarly, harmonic reducers play a similar role in industrial robots. It is equivalent to the "joint system" of the robot, connecting various components of the robot, enabling the robot to complete movements and actions with high precision and efficiency. Harmonic reducers provide precise deceleration transmission, just like the human joint system achieves the rotation and movement of bones, enabling industrial robots to accurately position, assemble, and move efficiently. The compact structure and high torque transmission capability of harmonic reducers, like the flexibility and strength of the human joint system, enable robots to adapt to different working environments and handle various tasks.
The harmonic reducer is mainly composed of three basic components: rigid wheel, flexible wheel, and harmonic generator. One of the rigid wheel, flexible wheel, and harmonic generator can be fixed arbitrarily, while the other two components can be connected to the input (active) and the other can be used as the output (passive) to achieve deceleration or acceleration.
1. Circular Spline: A smooth metal disc with a fixed number of teeth. The rigid wheel is usually meshed with the outer teeth of the flexible gear, which plays a role in transmitting torque and increasing the output rigidity of the reducer.
2. FlexSpline: Flexible gears are one of the core components of harmonic reducers, made of soft metal or elastic materials. It is usually a corrugated gear with no fixed number of teeth. Flexible gears can undergo elastic deformation under the action of force, used for transmitting torque and achieving deceleration.
3. Wave Generator: A key component that generates deformation in harmonic reducers. It consists of one or more eccentric shafts, cams, and rollers. When the input shaft rotates, the cam and rollers of the harmonic generator undergo periodic deformation, causing the ripples on the flexible gear to twist and deform.
How does the combination of these three basic components generate variable speed? When it comes to the construction and working principle of harmonic reducers, we can use seesaw amusement equipment as a visual example to explain.
Imagine you playing on a seesaw in the park. The seesaw consists of two boards, one board has a seat for you to sit on, and the other board has a seat for a friend to sit on. Your goal is to transmit power to each other through a seesaw, allowing each other to rise or fall.
1. Flexible gears are like seesaws: In harmonic reducers, flexible gears act like seesaws. It is made of soft materials, just like the board on a seesaw. Flexible gears are connected to the input shaft and output shaft, and transmit the power of the input shaft to the output shaft.
2. The rigid wheel is like your friend: In a harmonic reducer, the rigid wheel is like your friend sitting on another board. A rigid wheel is a disc-shaped metal component with a fixed number of teeth. It meshes with the outer teeth of the flexible gear, just like you and your friends sitting on two ends of a seesaw.
3. Harmonic generator is like your action: Harmonic generator is like your action on a seesaw. When you and your friend alternate up and down the seesaw movement, the seesaw undergoes periodic deformation, similar to the deformation caused by the cam and roller of a harmonic generator.
By using a harmonic generator to induce periodic deformation of the flexible gear, the shape of the flexible gear changes periodically and meshes with the internal teeth of the rigid wheel. In this way, your actions on the seesaw (deformation of the harmonic generator) will be transmitted to the other party (flexible gear), thereby achieving balance and power transmission of the seesaw, just like the harmonic reducer achieves deceleration and torque transmission from the input shaft to the output shaft.
In harmonic reducers, the deformation generated by the harmonic generator also causes the shape of the flexible gear to periodically change and mesh with the internal teeth of the rigid wheel. In this way, the rotational motion of the input shaft (such as the speed of the motor) will be transmitted to the flexible gear, and the meshing between the flexible gear and the rigid wheel achieves the deceleration and torque transmission of the output shaft. This deformation and meshing process achieves the transmission and shifting of power, just like the actions of you and your friends on a seesaw achieve the transmission and shifting of power.
The variable speed principle of harmonic reducer is the periodic deformation generated by the harmonic generator, which changes the shape of the flexible gear, thereby achieving torque transmission and variable speed effect from the input shaft to the output shaft.
The role of harmonic reducers in industrial robots cannot be underestimated, as they play an important role in industrial robots
1. Precise deceleration transmission
Industrial robots require high-precision motion and position control to achieve precise work tasks. Harmonic reducers have high-precision transmission characteristics and can provide precise reduction ratios, making robot movements smoother and more accurate.
2. High torque transmission capability
Industrial robots typically need to handle large loads and torques. Harmonic reducers can achieve high torque transmission capability with relatively small volume and weight, giving robots sufficient power to complete various tasks.
3. Compact structure
Industrial robots typically have limited space and require compact transmission devices. The compact structure of harmonic reducers occupies less space, providing more flexibility and degrees of freedom for the design of industrial robots.