Step 13.5: Cam Speed and Follower Force

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Step 13.5: Cam Speed and Follower Force

Cam Speed and the Follower Contact Force.

The Follower (Rocker/Lever) and the Follower-Roller have mass. As you increase the machine speed, you will also increase the acceleration and inertia force.


In this step,

1.You move the Follower-Part with a Motion from MotionDesigner.

2.We increase the machine speed until the Contact-Force between the Cam-Profile and Follower-Profile becomes zero or negative.

Add a Motion to the Follower.

GST-T13.5-MotionP5N5

The motion will oscillate the Follower-Part by ±5º a total of angle of 10º.

Use the tools in MotionDesigner to design the motion to the left.

 

GST-T13-5-A-CamMotion

1.Add a Motion FB to the graphics-area.

2.Edit the Motion FB. In the Select Motion  drop-down box, select Motion1.

3.Connect the Linear-Motion FBRed-14-1b to the Motion FBRed-14-2 and to the Motion-Dimension FBRed-14-3 for the Follower-Part


I have disabled Force Vectors : Display to make it easier to see the new shape of the Cam-Profile.


See, in the image:

The new Cam-Profile (Cyan)Red-14-4

The Profile (Pink)Red-14-5 of the Cam when the Follower-Part moves with Motion1.

Cam Contact Force

There are four methods to show the Contact-Force between a Cam-Profile and Follower-Profile

Note :

With all four methods, you must Configure the Power Source to make sure the 2D-Cam is the Power-Source for the Follower.

See Configure Power Source

GST-T13-3-CamDouble-Click

Methods 1: Force Vectors : Display to show the

Force-Vector that ACTS-ON the Follower-Profile

Force-Vector that ACTS-ON the Cam-Profile

YOU must determine whether the contact-force is active ON (towards) the Cam-Profile or active OFF (away from) the Cam-Profile.

Method 2: 2D-Cam > Cam Display Options > Contact-Force.

Method 3: Force-Data FB and plot with a Graph FB.

YOU must determine whether the contact-force is active ON (towards) the 2D-Cam or active OFF (away from) the 2D-Cam.

Method 4: Use a Cam-Data FB. connect the Contact Force output to a Graph FB.

If the Contact Force ≤ Zero(0), then the Contact-Force is = Zero(0).

Method 4 is usually the most informative.

GST-T13-3-Cam-ContactForce

We will use Method 2: 2D-Cam dialog.

1.Double-click the 2D-Cam

The 2D-Cam dialog opens.

We want to show the contact force

In the Cam Display Options separator, enable:

Contact Force

To see the colors more clearly, enter:

Cam Profile  Line Thickness: = 2 or 3

GST-T13-3-Cam-ContactForce-B

In the graphics-area, the:

Cam-Profile has a color-code

Contact-Force is at the contact point

Color-code swatch and Force Scale at the left of the graphics-area.

 

GST-T13-3-Cam-ContactForce-C

Drag the Master-Machine-Angle until the Contact-Force is a minimum.

For my motion, the Master-Machine-Angle is 110º.

The minimum Contact-Force is at the Master-Machine-Angle which is approximately at the maximum deceleration of the Follower.

GST-T13-3-Cam-ContactForce-D

Do Edit menu > Machine Settings dialog

Increase the Machine-Speed (Cycles / Min (RPM)) until the Contact-Force becomes is approximately 0N.

Again, drag the Master-Machine-Angle Slider until the Contact-Force is at a minimum.

If the contact-force is a function of inertia, gravity, and springs, then the minimum will be at different machine-angles for different machine-speeds.


For my motion, the Contact-Force becomes ~0N when the cam-shaft rotates at ~111 Cycles / minute. (RPM)

The maximum speed is a function of:

The motion

The mass and mass distribution of the Follower.

Are there ways to increase the speed of the cam-shaft, but use the same motion and the same mass distribution?