Abstract
There are two major factors which affect the cam design : the pressure angle and the radius of curvature, Cam shape will have an instantaneous radius of curvature at every point. Even though the design constraint of the pressure angle has been satisfied the follower may still not complete the desired contact motion. If the radius of the follower roller is larger than the concave(negative) radius on the cam it occurs the gap between the cam and the follower roller at the contact point. And also if the curvature of the pitch curve of the cam is too sharp the cam profile may be undercut. This paper proposes a new approach which uses the relative velocity of the follower roller parallel to the tangent line at the contact point on the cam surface for determining the pressure angle and the relative acceeration for determining the radius of curvature.
