An Improved Analytical Model of Friction and Ball Motion in Linear Ball Bearings With Application to Ball-to-Ball Contact Prediction

The friction behavior of rolling ball machine components like linear ball bearings is very important to their functionality. For instance, differences in linear velocity of balls induces ball-to-ball contact in certain circumstances, resulting in significant increases and variations in friction. In this paper, an improved analytical formula for determining the linear velocity of balls in four-point-contact linear ball bearings is derived as a function of contact angle deviations and contact forces. The analytical formula is validated against a comprehensive friction model in the literature and shown to be in good agreement, while an oversimplified analytical model proposed by the authors in prior work is shown to be inaccurate. A case study is presented where insights gained from the derived analytical formula are used to mitigate velocity difference of balls in a linear ball bearing which otherwise would experience ball-to-ball contact.