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The cam follower mechanism is versatile and almost any arbitrarilyspecified motion can be achieved. The use of algebraic polynomials to
specify the follower motion is a new choice for cam profiles. This class of
motion function is highly versatile especially in high speed automobiles.
In the present work, kinematic and dynamic analyses of cam follower
mechanism with polynomial cam profiles are carried out. The kinematic
analysis presents follower displacement, velocity, and acceleration
driven by a cam rotating at a uniform angular velocity. Dynamic analysis
presents static and inertial forces developed in the mechanism. A 2-3
polynomial cam profile shows discontinuous follower acceleration at the
ends of the stroke making it unsuitable at higher speeds. A 3-4-5
polynomial cam profile has an extended control as it provides a zero
acceleration at the end points and no control over the follower jerks at
end points. The modelling and simulation of a cam follower mechanism is
performed on Solid Works and results are presented for various cam
speeds. The simulation results show substantially lower values of
follower velocity and acceleration for 3-4-5 polynomial cam profile;
hence, it is versatile and most suitable at higher speeds without many
modifications.
Introduction
Cams are used for essentially the same purpose as linkages, that is,
generation of irregular motion. Cams have an advantage over linkages
because cams can be designed for much tighter motion specifications. In
fact, in principle, any desired motion program can be exactly reproduced
by a cam. Cam design is also, at least in principle, simpler than linkage
design, although, in practice, it can be very laborious. Automation of cam
design using interactive computing has not, at present, reached the
same level of sophistication as that of linkage design. The disadvantages
of cams are manufacturing expense, poor wear resistance, and relatively
poor high-speed capability. Although numerical control (NC) machining
does cut the cost of cam manufacture in small lots, costs are still quite
high in comparison with linkages. In large lots, molding or casting
techniques cut cam costs, but not to the extent that stamping and so
forth, can cut linkage costs for similar lot sizes. Unless roller followers are
used, cams wear quickly. However, roller followers are bulky and require
larger cams, creating size and dynamic problems. In addition, the
bearings in roller followers create their own reliability problems. The
worst problems with cams are, however, noise and follower bounce at
high speeds. As a result, there is a preoccupation with dynamic
optimization in cam design. Cam design usually requires two steps (from
a geometric point of view):
1. Synthesis of the motion program for the follower and
2. Generation of the cam profile.
Description
Cam
makes
a
higher
kinematic pair with follower. Cam mechanisms are widely used because
with them, different types of motion can be possible. Cams can provide
unusual and irregular motions that may be impossible with the other
types of mechanisms.
However, the manufacturing of cams is expensive and the wear effect
due to the contact stresses is a disadvantage. On the other hand, cams
are not proper for the systems with high speeds and heavy loads.
If the motion program is fully specified throughout the motion cycle, as
is the case, for example, with the stitch pattern cams in sewing
machines, the first step is not needed.
More usually, the motion program is specified only for portions of the
cycle, allowing the synthesis of the remaining portions for optimal
dynamic performance. An example is the cam controlling the valve
opening in an automotive engine. Here the specification is that the valve
should be fully closed for a specified interval and more or less fully open
for another specified interval. For the portions of the cycle between
those specified, a suitable program must be synthesized. This can be
done, with varying levels of sophistication, to make the operation of the
CAMFOLLOWER SYSTEMS
A general cam-follower system consists of three elements as shown in
Fig. 8.1. The first two are the cam and follower, and the third is a spring
or other means of ensuring that the follower remains in contact with the
cam. The function of the spring can be replaced by gravity or by
constraining the follower between the two surfaces on the cam or
constraining the cam between two surfaces on the follower. Both of
these approaches are usually more expensive than using a spring and
therefore are not commonly used. A follower is characterized by its
motion relative to the ground link and by the geometry of its face that
Motion
Curves
Motor
escapements,
etc.
Designers of cams for heavy-
duty
The cam designer would also like to keep peak accelerations as low as
possible since peak stress in a system is proportional to peak
acceleration and high stress means massive machine members, heavy
duty constrains and bearing , and/or rapid wear.
The designer has also traditionally been interest in the rate-of-change of
acceleration which is caused by his cam. The greater the rate of change
the more nearly he approaches instantaneous change, unwanted
vibration throughout the machine. Cam designers, therefore have
identified a dimension B shown in modified trapezoid curve, as the
percentage of total acceleration time that is devoted to the transition
from zero to peak acceleration . A more recent concern of cam designers
has been to minimize the peak input or drive torque requirement for the
cam. As explained in chapter 4, the drive torque curve can differ
significantly from the out put torque acceleration curve and the two can
not usually be minimized simountaniously .the modified sine curve is
more popular than the modified trapezoid , because the former requires
a lower peak-drive torque.
Clearation.
At
some
point the driver
must become a brake as the acceleration goes from positive to negative.
This is called the crossover point in a barrel or roller cam system and is
one of the cam designers problems.
The input rotates continuously the output moves intermittently. When
the follower being accelerated by driver, the forces on the follower are
towards the left, ashown in sketch. At the crossover point the follower
leaves the right hand wall of the groove in the drive cam and moves
toward the left hand wall. The drive cam and moves toward the left hand
wall . the drive cam brings the output to rest by applying a force towards
the right on the illustration of the change in forces that occurs on a
follower during the crossover point. This is a schematic representation of
the crossover point. this is a schematic representation of the intermittent
motion cam system.
If there is any play between roller and drive cam then the
change from acceleration to deceleration at the crossover point will be
sudden and can cause vibration , impact , chatter, etc. There would any
play between follower and cam slot in the simple cam system. More
elegant cam system when the follower is driving the earn and enters the
drive slot as at A, impact: vibration : chatter:etc are liable to occur. These
are avoided when the follower enters along the axis of the drive slot, as
at B.
Theory
Types Of Cam
1. Plate cam
2. Wedge cam
As we have just now said that, the planar cams can be classified in
various wedge cams depending on various criteria. The first classification
we made depending on the type of input motion is here; the input
motion, that is the cam has an angular motion or rotational motion, then
we call this cam as a plate cam or a disc cam or even radial cam
whereas if the cam has a linear motion, then we call it as a wedge cam.
Our next classification will be based on the type of movement that the
follower has. As I said just now, the cam can be classified also on the
basis of the type of movement that the output member or the follower
has.
Later on we will discuss why this offset is necessary and the proper
direction of the offset. Right now we are concentrating only on the
different classification. Based on the type of input movement or cam
movement, we had disc cam or wedge cam based on the type of follower
movement, we call it. If the movement is linear; the follower movement,
then we call it as a translating follower which can be either radial or
offset. If the follower movement is angular, then we call it oscillating
follower.
Our next classification will be based on the type of movement that the
follower has. As I said just now, the cam can be classified also on the
basis of the type of movement that the output member or the follower
has.
Type Of Follower moment
1. Linear - Translating
Radial
Offset
2. Oscillating
Accordingly, the second classification is based on type of follower
movement. If the follower has linear motion as we have shown in the
diagram, then we call it as translating follower and if the follower has
angular motion, then we call it as an oscillating follower. The translating
follower, the axis of translation that is the axis of that prismatic pair, if it
passes through the cam centre, then we call it radially translating. We
call it radial translating follower if the follower axis passes through the
cam centre, centre of the cam shaft. If it has a little offset, that means
the axis of the translation of the follower does not pass through the cam
centre, it is little bit offset then we call it as an offset translating follower.
Later on we will discuss why this offset is necessary and the proper
direction of the offset. Right now we are
rotates, the disc cam; the follower translates, that the axis of this
prismatic pair passes not through the cam centre but has an offset little
away from this vertical line. This offset we will normally denote by the
variable e by the symbol e. This is called offset translating follower.
Whereas, in this case, as we see, the cam rotates as before but this is
the follower due to the shape of the cam, the follower undergoes an
oscillatory motion and the follower is hinged at this point. So, this is
called oscillating follower.
The third classification of cam-follower system is based on the nature or
shape of the follower surface. The contact surface between the follower
and the cam, what kind of surface the follower has at the contact?
This is based on type of follower surface. If the follower has just a knifeedge with the cam then we call it as a knife-edge follower. It must be told
that this knife-edge is only theoretical because knife-edge follower is
never used because of very high [wire length..15:29]. The follower as
we have seen already, the follower surface can be that the follower is
hinged to a roller and this roller is in contact with the cam as we have
seen so far, this is called roller follower. The follower can also be in the
form of a flat face.
As we see, the follower surface which is in contact with the cam is in the
form of a flat surface, this is called flat face follower. The follower
surface, instead of flat it can be also a curved surface. This is the cam
which rotates and the follower which is hinged here oscillates, so this is
called curved face.
These are the four common types of surfaces that we will be talking
about; knife-edge, roller, flat face and curved face out of which as I said
knife-edge is only theoretical but not used in real life, it is the roller or
the flat face, or the curved face. The roller follower is used when a large
force has to be transmitted like in stationary IC engines, to move the
valves a large force has to be transmitted and we use a roller follower. If
the space is constricted, if there is not enough space to use the large
roller because this pin has to be sufficiently big to transmit the force
between the cam and the follower and the roller has to be bigger than
the pin at least twice as big as the pin, then the roller needs a lot of
space. If the space is restricted then we can use flat face follower, if the
force involved is not too large as we use in the case of automobiles.
Let us just recapitulate the four different types of follower surfaces that
we have discussed. This is the diagram of a knife-edge follower which as
I said is really only for theoretical purpose. This is never used in practice
because the knife-edge will wear out very fast. This is the follower is
connected to a roller through a revolute pair and this roller is in contact
with the cam surface. The follower is not directly connected to the cam
surface, the follower is hinged to a roller and this roller is in contact with
the cam surface. Here, we call it a roller follower.
We can use the flat face follower which is directly in contact with the cam
surface so this becomes a three linked mechanism, the fixed link 1. Cam
2 has the revolute pair with the fixed link here, this is the cam shaft in its
bearing and the follower is link number 3 whereas here we had 2; roller
is 3 and follower is 4.
Instead of a flat face, we can also have a curved face as shown here then
we call it as a curved face follower. We have just finished the
classification of different kinds of cams and followers based on the type
of input movement; based on the type of output movement and based
on the type of surfaces that are in contact between the cam and the
follower.
on the follower face is in contact with the cam surface that configuration
I will use as the test point. Or we can use this axis wherever it intersects
this point as the trace point. Trace point is the theoretical point on the
follower which is used to describe the movement of the follower, so that
is why we call it as trace point.
Second thing we would like to define is the base circle. Base circle is the
smallest circle. Let us think of the smallest circle that can be drawn with
cam centre as the centre and touching the cam profile. This is the
smallest circle that can be drawn with cam centre as the centre and
touching the cam profile, this circle we call the base circle. It is the
smallest circle with centre at cam shaft axis and tangential to the cam
profile. This red circle will refer as the base circle. As we see, the base
circle really defines the size of the cam; it is the difference of the
distance of the cam surface from the cam centre and this base circle
radius that defines the movement of the follower. This is the smallest
circle when the roller is in contact with the base circle that means from
here to there the follower is at its lowest position. This radius of the base
circle we call rb that is called base circle radius.
We define a pitch curve. To define the pitch curve we think of a kinematic
inversion. If we remember the kinematic inversion, this is the four link
mechanism, fixed link, cam, roller and follower. In this four link
mechanism, this link number 1 which is fixed, but in this kinematic chain,
if we make a kinematic inversion holding the cam fixed. That means we
allow link 1 to move and hold the cam fixed instead of allowing the cam
direction of the velocity of the trace point and the common normal
between the roller and the cam surface. This is the direction of the
contact force in the absence of friction and this angle we will as call
pressure angle. For such oscillating follower, the pressure angle is less
important and phimax should be less than 45 degree; whereas, for
translating follower phimax is less than 30 degree.
Now that we know the pressure angle we will be able to appreciate why
this offset is given in a particular direction depending on the direction of
the cam rotation? If we remember that there is a spring which tries to
push it back, so pressure angle is more critical during the upward motion
of the follower. As the follower is pushed out from the cam shaft, it is
compressing against the spring and this contact force let me call it F n,
this is the normal force that has the tendency to rotate the follower in its
bearing in this guide. It has a tendency to rotate it clockwise, for this
force the follower has a tendency to rotate clockwise and the contact will
take place here and there. The guide which is supposed to 17 guide this
vertically, actually due to this force has a tendency to rotate and the
contact will take place here and there.
If I exaggerate this corking movement it will be like this (Refer Slide
Time: 44:00) then a normal force acts in this direction, a normal force
acts in this direction and these two normal forces balances the corking
moment, the moment due to this force F n. The friction force which tries to
oppose this vertical motion will be mu time based normal force. If I call it
N then this will be mu N and this will be mu N. As we see during upward
motion, the follower has to overcome not only these two friction forces, it
also has to overcome the spring force. As a result, a large F n is necessary
to overcome this friction force and the vertical component of this F n will
overcome this two friction force and the spring force whereas during the
downward movement the spring force is helping the follower to come
down, so this contact force will be less. It is obvious, that this vertical
component will be Fn cos phi, if the phi is very large then this vertical
component will be reduced. As a result, during the upward movement, I
want phi to be low and during the return movement, that is, the down
movement phi can be large, so phi max is more critical during the upward
movement.
Pressure angle should be low while overcoming the spring force and this
particular offset, this positive offset ensures that the pressure angle
reduces during this motion when it is comprising this field and it will
increase obviously while the follower is coming down but at that time
spring force is there to make the follower move downward, so I do not
need a large contact force.
Pressure angle can be allowed to be larger during the downward
movement but has to be smaller during the upward movement assuming
the spring is resisting the upward movement. This is the need for offset.
Of course, all this we will have analytical expressions later on that how
pressure angle is related to all this other dimensions.
We have base circle radius rb and e the offset. These are the two basic
dimensions. rb defines the cam size and e gives the relative position
between the follower and the cam shaft. These are the two basic
dimensions which we have to first determine before we can go for
designing the cam. At this stage, let me discuss a little bit, what is the
effect of this offset in the flat face follower case?
Before getting into the flat face follower place, let me recapitulate
whatever we have discussed so far with reference to a roller follower. As
we see; this is the cam profile, this is the roller and this is the follower
axis. We have defined trace point that is the centre of the roller. The
movement of this particular point describes the movement of the
follower. This circle whose centre is at the cam shaft and this is the
smallest circle that can be drawn that means it becomes tangential to
the cam profile. Any bigger circle will intersect the cam profile.and the
smallest circle can be drawn with cam centre as the centre and
tangential to the cam profile which we call base circle.
The radius of the base circle is called base circle radius and we denoted
it by rb. This curve which is parallel to the cam profile passing through the
centre of this roller is called pitch curve. How do we generate the pitch
curve? By kinematic inversion, holding the cam fixed and aligning the
fixed link to rotate in the clockwise direction; the cam is rotating in the
counter-clockwise direction, then this locus of this roller centre after this
kinematic inversion, it will move along this curve in the clockwise
direction. This curve we called pitch curve and the smallest circle that
can be drawn with cam shaft centre as the centre and tangential to this
pitch curve we call it as prime circle. This circle we call prime circle. If the
radius of the prime circle is r p, then we can easily see that r p is nothing
but rb plus rR where, rR is the roller radius, this is r R. This distance that is,
the vertical line, so this cam shaft centre and this vertical line of the
follower movement, this distance is called offset. This is the positive
offset for counter-clockwise rotation.
In these two figures, we explain again the pressure angle, we have just
now seen if this is the roller follower and this is the cam profile, let this
be the common normal, which passes obviously though the roller centre.
This is the direction of the follower movement but the contact force, if we
neglect the friction force then acts along this direction and the angle
between the direction of this force and the direction of the follower
movement, this angle phi we called pressure angle.
Similarly, for the oscillating roller follower, let this be the common
normal passing through the roller centre and the follower is hinged here,
so the velocity of this point A is perpendicular to O 3A that is this angle is
90 degree. This is the direction of the movement or velocity of the point
A and n, n is the direction of the contact force. Angle between these two
we call the pressure angle phi.
We can see that, this angel which we called mu; phi plus mu is 90
degree. This is 90 degree, this total angle is 180 degree so phi plus mu is
90 degree and this angle mu which we call transmission angle incase of
should be possible
Transmission criteria
In mechanism synthesis, it is necessary to have a suitable transmission
criterion in order to be able to judge the efficiency of transmission of
motion and force. Chapter 9 of Hain's book gives an excellent account of
classical approaches to quantifying the quality of motion transmission.
Transmission angle (or its complementary angle, pressure angle) is often
used as the transmission criterion. Ref. [5] summarize various
interpretations of this angle in the modern kinematics literature. One
dentition of pressure angle, by Shigely and quicker , is the acute angle
between the direction of the output force and the direction of the
velocity of the point where the output force is applied. Since the
transmission angle is the complement of pressure angle, the former can
be denned as the acute angle between the common normal and the
output point path normal. In cam follower systems, the direction of force
is along the common normal at the point of contact. The pressure angle
and transmission angle are indicated in Fig. 2 when the roller-crank
drives the cam.
The smaller the pressure angle the better the transmission and vice
versa. Likewise, ideal transmission angle being 90, the closer it is to 90
Figure 8-4 shows an axial carn whose follower moves parallel to the axis
of earn rotation. This arrangement is also called a face earn if open
(force-closed) and a cylindrical or barrel earn if grooved or ribbed
(form-closed).
Figure 8-5b shows a selection of cams of various types. Clockwise from
the lower left, they are: an open (force-closed) axial or face earn; an
axial grooved (track) earn (form-closed) with external gear; an open
radial, or plate earn (force-closed); a ribbed axial earn (form-closed); an
axial grooved (barrel) earn.
constraint and in effect define how many dwells are present in the full
cycle of motion, either none (RF), one (RFD), or morethan one (RDFD).
Dwells, defined as no output motion for a specified period of input
motion, are an important feature of cam-follower systems because it is
very easy to create exact dwells in these mechanisms. The cam-follower
is the design type of choice whenever a dwell is required. We saw in
Section 3.9 (p. 125) how to design dwell linkages and found that at best
we could obtain only an approximate dwell. The resulting single- or
double-dwell linkages tend to be quite large for their output motion and
are somewhat difficult to design. (See program SIXBAR for some built-in
examples of these dwell linkages.) Cam-follower systems tend to be
more compact than linkages for the same output motion.
If your need is for a rise-fall (RF) CEP motion, with no dwell, then you
should really be considering a crank-rocker linkage rather than a camfollower to obtain all the linkage's advantages over cams of reliability,
ease of construction, and lower cost which were discussed in Section
2.15 (p. 55). If your needs for compactness outweigh those
considerations, then the choice of a cam-follower in the RF case may be
justified. Also, if you have a CPM design specification, and the motion or
its derivatives are defined over the interval, then a cam-follower system
is the logical choice in the RF case.
The rise-faIl-dwell (RFD) and rise-dwell-fall-dwell (RDFD) cases are
obvious choices for cam- followers for the reasons discussed above.
However, each of these two cases has its own set of constraints on the
behavior of the cam functions at the interfaces between the segments
which control the rise, the fall, and the dwells. In general, we must
match the boundary conditions (BCs) of the functions and their
derivatives at all interfaces between the segments of the carn. This topic
will be thoroughly discussed in the following sections.
The Fundamental law of Cam Design
Any cam designed for operation at other than very low speeds must be
designed with the following constraints:
The cam function must be continuous through the first and second
derivatives of displacement across the entire interval (360 degrees).
Corollary:
The jerk function must be finite across the entire interval (360 degrees).
In any but the simplest of carns, the cam motion program cannot be
defined by a single mathematical expression, but rather must be defined
by several separate functions, each of which defines the follower
behavior over one segment, or piece, of the carn.
These expressions are sometimes called piecewise functions. These
functions must have third-order continuity (the function plus two
derivatives) at all boundaries. The displacement, velocity and
acceleration functions must have no discontinuities in them.
If any discontinuities exist in the acceleration function, then there will be
infinite spikes, or Dirac delta functions, appearing in the derivative of
acceleration, jerk. Thus the corollary merely restates the fundamental
law of cam design. Our naive designer failed to recognize that by starting
Figure 8-22 shows the displacement curves for these three earn
programs. (Open the diskfile E08-04.cam in program DYNACAM also.)
Note how little difference there is between the displacement curves
despite the large differences in their acceleration waveforms in Figure 818. This is evidence of the smoothing effect of the integration process.
Differentiating any two functions will exaggerate their differences.
Integration tends to mask their differences. It is nearly impossible to
recognize these very differently behaving earn functions by looking only
at their displacement curves. This is further evidence of the folly of our
earlier naive approach to earn design which dealt exclusively with the
near the natural frequencies of the follower train will exacerbate the
problem.
follower will ride near the center of a flat earn regardless of the accuracy
of alignment of the axes of rotation of earn and follower. If a cylindrical
follower is chosen and care is not taken to align the axes of earn and
roller follower, the follower will ride on one edge and wear rapidly.
Commercial roller followers are typically made of high carbon alloy steel
such as AISI 52100 and hardened to Rockwell Rc 60 - 62. The 52100 alloy
is well suited to thin sections that must be heat-treated to a uniform
hardness. Because the roller makes many revolutions for each earn
rotation, its wear rate may be higher than that of the earn. Chrome
plating the follower can markedly improve its life. Chrome is harder than
steel at about Rc 70. Steel cams are typically hardened to a range of Rc
50 - 55.