Vibration-assisted assembly of miniature multi-stage planetary gear drives carried by a robot

Considering the assembly of miniature multistage planetary gear drives, the mating process of the sun gear between the planet gears and the meshing of the ring gear represents a crucial automation obstacle. The possibility of deadlock and canting of the gears require a controlled compensation of positioning errors and tolerances. This paper describes an analytical and experimental investigation of strategies for the assembly of the sun gear and the ring gear of a planetary gear drive. By means of a special joining system, a compensation of tolerance can be accomplished with a close loop control syste. This is characterised by an oscillating rotation and a horizontal vibration which can be controlled and flexibly adjusted. Positioning errors will be measured and compensated by a close loop controlled movement superimposed to the vibration-assisted joining process.