Cam and Follower

	                        Animation of a cam with a roller follower. 
 Please press the hyperlink below for a complete derivation of the motion of the cam and follower.							
	The use of cams and roller type followers is wide-spread in internal combustion engines.   
  The cam is specified by its Lift (which is how far it lifts the valve) and its open duration specified in degrees.
  The values of Lift and duration can be chosen by the sliders.  The speed of the cam's rotation is also specified by the slider.
  Below the cam animation are plotted the cam lift and roller speed Vs time.

Single Step

Cam Design Equations

Lift (pixels)

Higher lift results in greater valve opening

Lift Duration (degrees)

Longer duration results in more flow through the valve

Frames per second, fps

More frames per second result in faster cam rotation speed