Cam mechanisms have been used in many kinds of machinery because of its high loading capacity, reliable and quiet movements in high speed driving and a long lifetime based on the low defect and the easy repair. To get a cam having desired moving properties requires much time and effort on design and manufacture and as its proper measurement is not performed, the development of the exclusive cam measurement system which is able to measure fast the cam profile and also show the properties such as the velocity and the acceleration by the continuous measurement is necessary.
This paper is concerned with the measurement system of planar cam by oscillating roller cam mechanism, which can measure a cam profile and show the profile error as compared with its design profile. The cam measurement system of an oscillating roller type, which measures the oscillating angle of the follower according to rotating of the cam by an angle sensor, a potentiometer, was designed and manufactured. A software was developed to analyze the data measured using the constructed system. In this analysis software the cam profile was synthesized from the measured angle using the envelope theory and the registration was implemented for the minimum error through searching for comparison the measured profile with the design profile. To evaluate the developed measurement system, the profile measured using this system was analyzed and compared with the profile measured using the coordinate measuring machine.
Consequently, this system can measure the cam profile fast and continuously at the low cost in comparison with the previous measurement method and make the fast feedback in the processes of the design and the manufacture of a cam possible. Therefore it is expected to contribute to the quality control, the reliability improvement and the cost reduction of the cam.
