The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 25, 2025
Filed:
Dec. 11, 2023
Zf Active Safety Gmbh, Koblenz, DE;
Volker Knop, Ulmen, DE;
ZF Active Safety GmbH, Koblenz, DE;
Abstract
An actuator assembly comprises a ball screw drive having a ball screw spindle rotatably mounted about a spindle axis, on which a spindle nut is received, and a thread track on an outer circumferential surface of the ball screw spindle, has a portion of a ball return on a circumferential wall of the ball screw spindle, which return connects a beginning and an end of the thread track to one another. At the beginning and at the end of the thread track, an insert is inserted in which a ball race is formed, which is part of the ball return. The inserts are arranged such that each end of a ball race adjoins a portion of the ball return and another end adjoins a beginning of a thread track or an end of the thread track. In a section perpendicular to a spindle axis, an angle of the ball race to a tangent to the thread track at an adjacent beginning or end of the thread track is greater than 90° in a central portion between the first and the second end of the ball race. To determine the angle, a side of the tangent on which a portion of the thread track directly adjacent to the beginning or the end lies is selected. To produce the ball screw spindle, a channel of the ball return is introduced into the circumferential wall, a thread is introduced into an outer circumferential surface of the ball screw spindle, and in each case one depression is introduced into the outer circumferential surface at the beginning and at the end of the thread track, and inserts are inserted into the depressions.