Development and Analysis of a Long-Stroke Spring Guiding System

Abstract

Inspired by the operating principle of a tank’s track, we have developed a long-stroke spring guiding system with belt-shaped springs. Other than those characteristics of normal spring guides, the long-stroke spring guiding system has longer guided stroke and adjustable recovery force. To study the mechanical characteristics of the system, experiments and analyses are carried out. The finite element analysis software ABAQUS is applied to analyze the stress and the recovery force of the preloaded spring guiding during the guiding process, and the Buckingham pi theorem is utilized to investigate the complicated relationships among the geometric parameters, the working parameters, and the guiding properties. According to the analytical and experimental results, an efficient design process and design criteria for the guiding system are concluded and practically validated. Moreover, the system can be easily scaled down or modified to adapt to the applications in precision systems and microsystems due to its simple form and great variability.