On The Synthesis of Cams With Irregular Followers

Abstract

This paper extends the envelope theory for plate cam geometry design to irregular-surface follower systems. Analytical description of cam profiles for general com-follower systems is derived and an example is solved to demonstrate the method carried out in the numerical form. A constraint equation approach, which uses geometric constraints between two planar objects in contact, is also described and used to verify the results provided by the envelope theory method.