A NONLINEAR MODEL OF A HARMONIC DRIVE GEAR TRANSMISSION

Harmonic drives can exhibit very nonlinear dynamic behavior. In order to capture this behavior not only must dynamic models include accurate representations of transmission friction, compliance, and kinematic e rror, but also important features of harmonic-drive gear-tooth geometr y and interaction must be understood, In this investigation, experimen tal observation were used to guide the development of a model to descr ibe harmonic-drive operation, Unlike less detailed representations, th is model was able to replicate many of the features observed in actual harmonic-drive dynamic response. Unfortunately, since model parameter s can only be derived from careful analysis of experimental dynamic re sponse, it seems unlikely that any comparably sufficient representatio n can be constructed with parameter values obtained from catalogs or s imple experimental observations.