Research on the Ball Return Fluency of Typical Forms of Ball Screw in Aviation

The ball screw assembly is a commonly used actuator in aerospace linear actuation systems, and jamming failure is one of the main fault modes affecting actuation reliability. Based on aerospace actuation requirements, this study analyzes the ball return smoothness of three typical types of aerospace ball screw assemblies (external circulation with return tube, internal circulation, and full circulation). Through dynamic simulations, the design parameters that ensure smooth ball return for each configuration are determined. A comparative analysis of the three forms shows that the external circulation ball screw assembly achieves optimal return smoothness when the return angle is 15°, while the full circulation type exhibits significantly better ball return smoothness than the other two types, especially under high-speed operating conditions, demonstrating a clear performance advantage.