We have recently supplied a bespoke set of satellite roller screws to a pharmaceutical company providing the precision axial movement in the enhanced manufacture of tablet form medication. ABSSAC's customer design was limited by space and had a high axial thrust requirement.
Using the standard RV series with a flanged mounting nut, meant that the physical roller screw's nut diameter could be significantly smaller than if a traditional style of ball nut had been utilized. Additionally the roller screw enabled up to 4 times the axial thrust capacity for the equivalent ball nut screw design. The satellite roller screw product has precision rollers instead of ball bearings in the nut housing. The rollers transmit the load between the nut and the screw. Since the rollers are constantly engaged with the threads of the screw, this results in a high number of contact points which allows the satellite roller screw to support heavier axial loads and have much greater longevity.
Interestingly, when the screw turns, the satellite rollers move as the lead on the screw and the rollers do not move axially relative to the nut and are not recycled.
Web link to roller screws