THE DESIGN OF CAM MECHANISMS WITH TRANSLATING FLAT-FACE FOLLOWERS UNDER CURVATURE CONSTRAINTS

The optimization of cam mechanisms with translating flat-face follower s, upon consideration of curvature constraints, is discussed here. Whe n minimizing the size of the cam disk, cam profiles with cusps, i.e., profiles with curvature discontinuities, can appear. On the other hand , cusps are undesirable because they give rise to inadmissibly large c ontact stresses and hence, should be prevented from occurring. Conditi ons under which these discontinuities appear, although available in th e literature, are not readily applicable to a specific problem. Howeve r, if the synthesis of the follower-displacement program is based on s pline functions, then readily applicable design formulas, leading to u nconstrained optimum designs, are derived. In the presence of curvatur e constraints, design charts are derived that produce the cusp-free, m inimum-size profile for a given displacement program. The same problem for oscillating flat-face followers is addressed in an accompanying p aper.