What is a Conjugate Cam?
The design of a cam-system must make sure the Cam-Follower Roller is in continuous contact with the Cam surface at all machine speeds. There are two design options:
A.Force Closed Cam - the cam-follower is pushed or pulled against the cam with an external force. E.g.: with a Spring, Air-Cylinder, Gravity, Magnet, ...
B.Body-Closed Cam - two rollers in one part, generate two different cams. Each roller/cam pair prevents the other roller lifting off its cam.
In Design B, the two cams are called conjugate-cams. The two cams are located in the same machine-part.
The two cam-follower rollers are also located in one machine-part.
Why do we need to add the Conjugate Cam FB element?
In MechDesigner, it is easy to add a number of cams to one part, each with a different roller or flat-faced follower.
We use a Conjugate-Cam FB when the force analysis is important. We use it to apply the Power Source correctly, so that the contact-force switches between the two conjugate-cams.
2D-Cam elements and 2D-Cam dialogs
ADD ELEMENTS |
|
DIALOG-BOXES |
STEP 1: Add a 2D-Cam |
-> EDIT to OPEN -> |
STEP 1A: 2D-Cam dialog-box |
STEP 2 : Add Cam-Data FB
|
-> EDIT to OPEN -> |
STEP 2A : Cam-Coordinates dialog-box Close to do STEP 4 or do STEP 5 now. |
STEP 3 : Cam Analysis (See also STEP 4A) ... Cam-Data FB and Graph FB |
|
STEP 3A : Calculate, save, export Cam-Coordinates |
STEP 4A : If you need to do 'Cam Force and Stress' Analysis: Configure Power Source, Mass Properties of Parts |
||
Add Conjugate Cam FB
Toolbar : |
|
|
Machine elements Toolbar : Add Conjugate Cam FB |
Menu : |
Add menu > Mechanism sub-menu > Add Conjugate-Cam FB |
|
Preparation: You need in the model. Two 2D-Cams •Cams should be on one Part •Cam-Followers should be on one Part |
|
What to do: 1.Click Machine-elements toolbar > Add Conjugate-Cam FB 2.Click the graphic-area. The Conjugate-Cam-FB is now in the graphic-area. |
|
3.Edit the Conjugate-Cam FB to open the Conjugate-Cam FB dialog-box. 4.Click the two 2D-Cams in the graphic-area or the Assembly-Tree. Cam-Track : the names of the two 2D-Cams that are the Conjugate Cams. Cam-Flank Visible : the Cam-flanks that will be active as the Power Source. When you open the Configure-Power Source dialog-box, the Conjugate Cam is available to select as the Motor Elements. |
