Numerical simulation of three degrees of freedom ball joint crossed spherical gear for a robotic arm prosthesis

Abstract

The objective of this article is to evaluate, through the finite element method, the design of a crossed spherical gear with two different materials (polyether ether ketone -PEEK and titanium alloy -Ti-6Al-4V) for a robotic arm prosthesis. The software ANSYS Mechanical was used to simulate strains, stresses, natural frequencies and modes of vibration. The results obtained show that the maximum stresses occur on the same regions for both materials and have similar values. However, the titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) has a higher safety factor compared to that of the PEEK.Therefore, the spherical crossed gear made of titanium has better dynamic behavior and a higher safety factor in the event of an overload of the robotic arm prosthesis.