Cam and follower- details with types and uses | The Mechanical post
“A Cam is a rotating machine element which provides reciprocating or oscillating motion to another machine element called a follower.”
Spring applies external force required to maintain the contact between cam and follower. This type of arrangement is used to convert the rotatory motion into linear sliding motion or vice versa.The main application of the cam and follower arrangement is in the automobile engines. As shown below the cam and follower are used in an engine in the form of Camshaft (No of Cams mounted on a rotatating shaft.) and the valve inlet and outlet(These are followers loaded with springs.) As the cam rotates it presses the follower causing it to open for a while allowing the fuel to enter in and the exhaust gases to leave out.
Types of Followers :
- Knife edge follower
- Roller Follower
- Flat faced follower
- Spherical faced follower
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| Credit: clubtechnical.com |
Followers are also classified on the basis of their point of contact:
- Point contact (also known as Higher pair.)
- Surface contact (also known as Lower pair.)
Applications of Cams and followers.
- For operating inlet and outlet valves of IC Engine in automobiles
- In wall clock
- Automatic attachment of machineries
- Paper cutting machines
- Feed mechanism of automatic lathes.
So this was a short brief on “Cam and follower- details with types and uses”.
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