Friday, October 3, 2008

Camshaft Design




Camshaft Design.
Camshaft design today is an extremely complex process employing the use of computers in every phase of design analysis and testing not to mention the years of experience required to make these phases become reality. As complex as it is however, camshaft design, in its simplest form, may be broken down into two segments.
The first segment involves lobe placement on the camshaft. This establishes the very critical valve train event timing in relation to piston and crankshaft positions. It also establishes the displacement or separation of the intake lobe in relation to the exhaust. This placement is very critical and must be exactly the same for each cylinder. Lobe placement is one segment of the camshaft design experience that relies heavily on the designer's experience. As you already know, you may advance or retard the camshaft in the engine, but altering the displacement requires a new camshaft.
The second segment involves designing the lobe and clearance ramp profiles. By far, this is the most critical and difficult segment of camshaft design. In today's race engines you must develop a lobe profile that is aggressive enough to produce the desired rate of lift yet smooth enough to avoid new valve train problems. You must walk a very thin line here to take advantage of the attainable high R.P.M. power available with today's cylinder head designs, yet not lose it all to stress, deflection and failure of the valve train. More recently, significant power gains have been found through several new approaches to clearance ramp profiles.
Camshaft Terminology.
Camshaft terminology can sometimes become very confusing. The diagram below should help to explain some of the terms used in the design and selection of camshafts.
 
  1. Max Lift or Nose
  2. Flank
  3. Opening Clearance Ramp
  4. Closing Clearance Ramp
  5. Base Circle
  6. Exhaust Opening Timing Figure
  7. Exhaust Closing Timing Figure
  8. Intake Opening Timing Figure
  9. Intake Closing Timing Figure
  10. Intake to Exhaust Lobe Separation
 

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