A general framework for motion design of the follower in cam mechanisms by using non-uniform rational B-spline

This paper presents a general framework for the motion design of cam mechanisms using Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS). The follower motion is described by the NURBS function. To establish motion curves, the system of linear equations is set up by arbitrary boundary conditions of the follower motion on displacements, velocities, accelerations, and jerks. Moreover, the computation of the NURBS parameters (the knot vector and the weight factor) is formulated in order to reduce peak values of the acceleration and jerk. The example demonstrates that the motion curves used by NURBS obtain advantageous characteristics and the maximum values of the acceleration and jerk on the motion curves decrease considerably compared with the polynomial and B-spline functions. Therefore, inertial forces and the tendency of vibration can be reduced in cam dynamics of high-speed cam systems. The results show that using NURBS for synthesizing motion curves is robust and effective because this can be applied for arbitrary motion curves of cam mechanisms. (c) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.