Kinematic and Static Analyses of Tripod Constant Velocity Joints of the Spherical End Spider Type

Abstract

The closed-loop equations of three cylindrical rollers, the spider of three spherical ends, and the housing of the tripod constant velocity joints are deduced as the spatial mechanism. They are solved for prescribed positions of its input, and output shafts and relative motion characteristics of components are made clear. Moreover, a procedure is established for solving, simultaneously, the set of conditional equations with respect to forces and moments acting on three cylindrical rollers, the spider, and the housing, for any values of friction coefficients between cylindrical rollers and its grooves and spherical ends. The established numerical procedure simulates the normal force acting on the roller groove with a period of π and the housing thrust force with a period of 2π∕3 for given values of the joint angle. These results are inspected by experiments.