Assessment of the Dynamic Quality of a Class of Dwell-Rise-Dwell Cams

A number of new cam profiles of the dwell-rise-dwell type have been proposed by different researchers in the past two decades. They were claimed as efficient cam curves suitable for high-speed applications. This paper re-examines these profiles with regard to the important vibrational response characteristics when they are applied as motion excitations to a cam-and-follower system. The severity of the dynamic response of the cam follower to the motion excitation of a cam will be measured by a dimensionless quantity known as the normalized acceleration amplification factor (NAAF). A simplified response envelop for the residual vibration of NAAF versus the fundamental period is constructed so that an assessment of the merit of any given cam profile can be made qualitatively and quantitatively.