An-Najah Staff

In this paper, based on screw theory, a general expression for the point coordinates of the contact surfaces of three-link spatial indexing cam mechanisms are derived. These contact surfaces are rolled surfaces generated by the motion of the relative instantaneous screw axis onto each of the cam and the follower. Note that cam mechanisms generated in this way have the property of minimum power losses at the higher pair, i.e., with minimum sliding velocity along the contact line. Few examples are also given to illustrate the approach.