Inverted planetary roller screw (IPRS) is a kind of linear transmission mechanism which has advantages of high load carrying capability, long fatigue life, high transmission accuracy and low noise. Due to these advantages, it has wide application prospect in the fields of aerospace, weapon equipment, CNC machine tools and petrochemical industry. Up to the present, there is little research about this mechanism. Therefore, a model was derived to calculate load distribution, axial deformation and contact fatigue life. Firstly, surface equation of screw, roller and nut was established. Based on Surface meshing theory, the meshing points of the roller with the screw and nut in a pitch were derived respectively. According to the surface equations and the location of contact points, an accurate method to calculate the elastic deformaion between the meshing surface was derived. Secondly, A model of IPRS's load distribution was obtained based on the geometric relationships between Hertz deformation, thread deformation and axial deformation. Based on its load distribution condition and motion principle, a fatigue life model was deduced using Lundberg-Palmgren equation. Then, a program was compiled in the MATLAB Environmet to calculate load distribution axial deformation and contact fatigue life. By comparing calculationg result with the expriments, the load distribution and axial deformation model was verified. The influence of the key parameters on the performance of IPRS was analyzed and the following results were derived. The load distribution was mainly influenced by the number of teeth, the number of rollers and the helix angle, and increased with the increases of these three factors. The axial stiffness was mainly influenced by the number of teeth, the number of rollers, the helix angle and the outer diameter of the nut, and increased with the increases of the number of rollers and the outer diameter of the nut, increased first and then decreased with the increase of the number of teeth and the helix angle. The contact fatigue life was mainly influenced by the number of teeth, the number of rollers, the contact angle and the radius of thread profile, and increased with the increases of the number of teeth, the number of rollers and the radius of thread profile, decreased with the increase of contact angle.
