Design of Cylindrical Cam with Oscillating Follower Based on 3D Expansion of Planar Profile Model

Cylindrical cam with oscillating follower is widely applicable and used in many mechanical devices and machines. However, a common error exists in the methods of designing planar profile for oscillating follower cylinder cam. In this study, we propose a new hypothesis to solve this design problem with the inclusion of deviation angle. On the basis of this new concept, equations for planar profile expansion and methods of calculating pressure angle are deduced by applying 3D expansion formula of the follower＇s motion orbit. When the pressure angle is less than allowable value, the minimum base radius can be determined by using MATLAB software. Accordingly, the planar profile of oscillating follower cylinder cam is generated by CAD software. This new method is practical and can be easily adopted for the design of oscillating follower cylindrical cam with desirable accuracy. We applied the method in the design of cylindrical cam for paper feeding mechanism used in high-speed printers. We calculated the planar profile and used it to direct the NC machine for the manufacture of the groove of cylindrical cam. The improved cylindrical cam met all of the requirements of speed and accuracy demanded by high-speed printers. Therefore, our new method has been validated by practical application.

Study on Approach for Computer-Aided Design and Machining of General Cylindrical Cam Using Relative Velocity and Inverse Kinematics

Cylindrical Cam Mechanism which is one of the best eq uipments to accomplish an accurate motion transmission is widely used in the fie lds of industries, such as machine tool exchangers, textile machinery and automa tic transfer equipments. This paper proposes a new approach for the shape design and manufacturing of the cylindrical cam. The design approach uses the relative velocity concept and the manufacturing approach uses the inverse kinematics concept. For the shape desig n, the contact points between the cam and the follower roller are calculated bas ed on relative velocity of which the direction is on the common tangential line, and then the whole shape of cam is determined from transformation of the coordi nate system. For the manufacturing procedures, the location and the orientation of cutter path can be allocated corresponding to the designed shape data. The in tegral NC code for multi-axis CNC machining center is created using the inverse kinematics concept from the data of the location and the orientation of cutter path. As the advantages of the proposed approach, the machine tool is designed t o having an alternative size in fabricating the general cam, while the tool must be fitted to diameter size of the follower in the conventional approach. Finally, CAD/CAM program, "Cylindrical DAM", is developed on C++ lan guage. This program can perform shape design, manufacturing and kinematics simul ation, which can make integral NC code for multi-axis CNC machining center. The proposed method can be applied easily on fields of industries.