Study on the Cam-Follower Contact

Cam-follower mechanisms are extremely important in modern equipment, widely used in automotive engines and machinery that requires complex motion with repeatability and reliability. A cam is a solid body and its shape in conjunction of follower’s type defines a movement that can be too difficult or even impossible to reproduce with others mechanisms. The objective of this analysis is the dynamic study, which is divided into kinematic and kinetics for both flat faced and offset roller follower in translating motion. The kinematics can be studied in focus on the synthesis or on the analysis. Some well-known functions applied to cam-follower pairs are cycloidal, harmonic and polynomial, however the application of classical sixth order spline is an interesting alternative to this type of study. The kinetic study has gained more importance in recent years due to increase of machinery’s speed. Thus, an approach was made by the system mass-spring-damper, widely used in automotive applications. Therefore, in order to make an initial characterization of the contact, the Hertz model was applied between the cam and the follower considering a nonlinear force.