Mechanism of Machinery

Chapter Four
Cams and Followers

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Chapter Contents:
 Introduction to cam and follower
 Classification of followers,
 Classifications of cams,
 Displacement diagram,
 Types of follower motions,
 Graphical design of cams curves,

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 Introduction to cam and follower
What are Cams?
• It is irregular shaped mechanical member for
transmitting a desired motion to another element known
as the follower, by direct contact.
• Cams are mechanical devices that convert rotary
oscillating or linear motion into a linear or
reciprocating motion to carry out useful work. Cam and Follower

• The cam and the follower have a line contact and

constitute a higher pair.
• A cam may remain stationary, translate or rotate while
the follower may translate or oscillate. Usually cams
rotate at constant angular speed.
• There are two links namely the cam itself which acts as
an input member. The other link that acts as an output
member is called the follower.
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 Con’t…
Applications of Cams
Cams are widely used in
internal combustion engines,
machine tools, printing control
mechanisms, textile weaving
industries, automated machines.

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 Classification of Followers
Followers may be classified based on the following:

1. Construction of the surface of contact

2. Types of follower motion
3. Location of line of motion with respect to the center of cam

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 According to surface in contact
1. Knife edge follower

• As follower has knife edge, so that there is more wear between

follower and cam profile.
• Due to wear cam profile change with time and does not work
correctly. That is reason due to which knife edge is not use in
practice.

2. Roller follower
• As per name roller follower has roller and surface contact between
cam and follower is rolling contact.
• It reduces wear of cam profile.

3. Flat follower
• As the name implies, flat face is in contact with the cam. These
types of followers cause high surface stress and to reduce this
stress, the flat is modified to a spherical surface with a large radius.

4. Spherical follower
• In flat face follower, stresses are produce. In order to reduce this
stresses flat face is machined into spherical shape called as
spherical follower.

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 According to type of follower motion

1. Translator motion type follower

• As the cam rotates, the follower reciprocates between the guide ways. Example
of this type follower is knife edge follower, roller follower, flat follower and
spherical follower.
2. Oscillatory motion type follower
• For a uniform rotary motion of the cam, the follower oscillates through a certain
angle.

Figure: (a) In-line translating follower, (b) off-set translating follower, (c)
Oscillating follower 7
  According to line of follower motion

1. Radial follower/ in line follower 2. Offset follower

• In radial follower, axis of follower and
center of cam are in one line or axis of • In offset follower, axis of
follower is passing through center of cam follower movement is offset from
is called as radial follower. Example of the center of cam about which
this type follower is knife edge follower, cam rotate is known as offset
roller follower, flat follower and spherical follower.
follower.

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 Classification of Cams
A. According to shape of cam
1. Radial or Disc cam
• In radial cam, cam profile (shape of cam) is
design in such way by which follower move
as per the shape of cam or cam profile in
perpendicular direction to the cam axis.
There is always surface contact between cam
profile and follower by spring force or
gravity force.
2. Cylindrical cam
• In cylindrical cam, follower axis and cam
axis are parallel to each other. Cylindrical
cam is cylindrical shaft on which profile
made on cylindrical surface by machining.
This profile is in the groove form and
follower has surface contact with this groove.
As cylindrical shaft or cylindrical cam is
rotates follower move and movement of
follower may be reciprocating or oscillating.
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 Con’t….
3. Translation or wedge cam
• In this type of cam, cam is reciprocated and this movement is
used to move follower. Cam has a specific shape or profile by
which movement of follower is done.
4. Conjugate cam
• In this type two discs are connected to each other and axes of
discs are offset by the distance, to form cam profile. Follower
has surface contact with cam profile by two rollers. As the cam
rotate follower follow it.
5. Globoidal cam
• Globoidal cam is shaft and has a concave or convex
circumference. On which groove is made by machining and this
groove is used for give movement to follower. Globoidal cam is
used for oscillating follower about a fixed point.
6. Spherical cam
• Spherical cam is in the form of spherical shape on which
groove is made. Follower has surface contact with this groove.
As cam rotate follower oscillate about a fixed point.

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 B. According to Motion of follower

1. Rise Return Rise cam

• Done in way that first rise then return. This all process is done in one
rotation (360 degree) of cam.

2. Dwell Rise Return Dwell cam

• As per name follower movement done in a way that first dwell then rise
then return and again dwell.
• This all process is done in one rotation (360 degree) of cam.

3. Dwell Rise Dwell Return Dwell cam

• As per name follower movement done in a way that first dwell then rise
again dwell then return and again dwell.
• This all process is done in one rotation (360 degree) of cam.

4. Dwell Rise Dwell cam

• done in a way that first dwell then rise then again dwell. This all process
is done in one rotation (360 degree) of cam. And at 360 degree it
suddenly falls to its first position.
• And so many others…..

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 C. According to type of constraint of the follower
For proper function of cam and follower mechanism, it is important to keep surface
contact between cam profile and follower at all time of rotation and any speed. For this
need spring force, gravity force or positive drives are use in cam and follower mechanism.
On this basis cams are classified by type of constraint of follower and these are as follow.

1. Preloaded spring cam

In this type of cam spring force is used. Compression spring is preloaded into
follower in such a way that it maintains surface contact all time.
2. Positive drive cam
In this type of cam, it does not require any external force. The follower is
design in such a way that it does not require any external force.

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 Displacement diagram

• Before a cam profile is determine~ the motion of the follower in accordance to

the requirements of the system must be selected.
• The follower motion is indicated on the displacement diagram. The
displacement diagram has as an abscissa the cam rotation angle, and the
ordinate is the follower travel in millimeters. The divisions of the abscissa are
identified by the station point numbers. These divisions can be in degree or in
seconds.
• During the rotation of the cam through one cycle of input motion, the follower
executes a series of events as shown in graphical form in the displacement
diagram.
• In displacement diagram the abscissa represents one cycle of the input motion a
(one revolution of the cam) and is drawn to any convenient scale.
• The ordinate represents the follower travel y and for a reciprocating follower is
usually drawn at full scale to help in the layout of the cam.
• The abscissa and ordinate of the displacement diagram is shown in the figure
given below.

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 Con’t…

 The displacement diagram identifies the following motion

characteristics:
• The rise: motion of the follower away from the cam center,
• The dwells: those periods during which the follower is at rest, and
• The return: motion of the follower toward the cam center.

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 Types of follower motions

• The first step in the design of a cam curve consists in

constructing the associated displacement diagram. Some of
the follower motion are:
• Uniform, modified uniform, simple harmonic, parabolic and
cycloidal.
• Ordinarily, a cam will have one or more rises and, as many
returns as rises.

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 1. Uniform Motion

• A follower has uniform motion when its velocity is constant. The displacement is
as shown in Fig. (a). The velocity and acceleration characteristics are represent in
Fig. (b).
• The follower moves through the same distance for each equal interval of time or
cam rotation angle.
• Uniform motion is the simplest possible cam motion, but shock results from the
change in velocity from 0 to some finite value or vice-versa. For this type of
follower motion there occur theoretically infinite accelerations and decelerations
at the beginning and end of the rise and return motions.
• Before the follower starts to rise it is in the dwell position, Between the dwell
and rise periods there is an acceleration and it is infinite. Thus the forces
transmitted are very large and shock and other secondary effects result.

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• 
• Uniform motion can be represented by a simple equation like:
Con’t…
Where: y = follower displacement corresponding to the cam angle and
c = constant to be determined from the boundary conditions.
If. d = the total distance through which the follower is to rise, and
= the angle in radians through which the cam is to rotate to produce the
required rise, Then
(2)
(3)
Therefore, the equation that represents the follower displacement is
(4)
• this is an equation of a straight line or uniform motion. The velocity
and acceleration of the follower are obtained by differentiation
(5) (a) Follower displacement diagram for
(6) uniform motion, (b) follower velocity and
acceleration for uniform motion

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 2. Modified uniform motion
• The uniform-motion curve is modified to reduce the shock at the
beginning and end of the motion. A convenient method is to use
circular arcs at the beginning and end of the motion which are
tangent to the dwell and rise lines. The displacement diagram of the
modified uniform-motion is shown in Figure below.

Follower displacement diagram with modified uniform motion

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 3. Simple Harmonic Motion
• The best way to understand this non-uniform motion is to imagine a pendulum swinging. If
you examine a pendulum as it swings you can see that as it swings towards one side it slows
down until it finally stops at the maximum displacement. Then it starts to swing back in the
other direction. This cycle then keeps repeating itself.
• To generate the displacement diagram for simple harmonic motion, create a semicircle with
diameter equal to the maximum displacement value.
• Create radial lines from the center of the arc at the same angular divisions.
• Horizontally project the intersections of the arc and radial lines. Points for the motion curve
lie at the intersections of the horizontal projectors with the vertical divisions of the period.
(see figure below) Displacement Diagram for Simple Harmonic Motion

• Simple harmonic motion of the follower can be represented by the equation given below: 19
 Cont….

Reading A.: Parabolic and cycloidal motion

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 Graphical design of cams curves
 Let us now examine the problem of determining the exact shape of
a cam surface required to deliver a specified follower motion.
 a complete displacement diagram can be drawn to scale for the
entire cam rotation. The problem now is to layout the proper cam
shape to achieve the follower motion represented by this
displacement diagram

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 Cam Nomenclature

• The graphical representation

of cam is shown in the figure
with basic terms of cam
profile

Figure: Basic terms of cam in the case of roller follower cam.

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The general basic terms in the case of cam nomenclature includes:
• Cam profile: Cam profile is outer surface of the disc cam. Or The actual surface
contour of the cam.
• Base circle: Base circle is the smallest circle, drawn tangential to the cam profile.
• Trace point:  point at the center of the follower that generates the pitch curve.
• The trace point is a theoretical point of the follower; it corresponds to the tip of
knife-edge follower. It is located at the center of a roller follower or along the
surface of a flat-face follower.
• Pitch curve: Pitch curve is the path generated by the trace point as the follower is
rotated about a stationery cam.
• For a knife edge follower, the pitch curve and the cam profile are same whereas
for a roller follower, they are separated by the radius of the roller
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 Con’t…
• Prime circle: Prime circle is the smallest circle that can be drawn
so as to be tangential to the pitch curve, with its center at the cam
center.
• For a knife edge and a flat face follower, the prime circle and the
base circle are identical. For a roller follower, the prime circle is
larger than the base circle by the radius of the roller.
• Pressure angle: The pressure angle is the angle between the
direction of the follower motion and the normal to the pitch curve.
• Pitch point: Pitch point corresponds to the point of maximum
pressure angle.
• Pitch circle: A circle drawn from the cam center and passes
through the pitch point is called Pitch circle.
• Lift or stroke. It is the maximum travel of the follower from its
lowest position to the topmost position
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General Steps

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Con’t…

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Con’t…

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Example 4 -SHM

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Example 6/ SHM with uniform acceleration and retardation

Solution

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Thanks!!

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