Reconstruction of high-speed cam curve based on high-order differential interpolation and shape adjustment
Abstract Mathematical defects of general cam curves such as high-order discontinuity and overlarge peak values often bring excessive transmission errors and vibrations to high-speed cam-follower systems. A comprehensive method is proposed in this study to develop high-speed cam curves with preferable mathematical characteristics. A high-order differential interpolation curve is first constructed by using nodal basis functions to accurately match with the multi-order derivatives on multiple nodes. A flexible cam curve is then reconstructed by adding variable shape factors on critical nodes for further shape adjustments. Numerical cases indicate that the proposed method can not only help construct a faithful cam curve satisfying all the given constraints for displacement, velocity, acceleration and jerk, but also effectively reconstruct a high-order continuous cam curve with lower peak values for high-speed precision cam mechanisms. The proposed method has been demonstrated to be effective and applicable in user-oriented reverse design, modification, and optimization of high-speed cam curves.