Predictions of cam follower wear in diesel engines

The rate of wear of cam followers in a valve train system is mainly a function of contact stress between the cam and the follower, sliding velocity and hydrodynamic film thickness between the two mating surfaces. The problem of surface fatigue wear becomes severe as the contact between cam and follower exceeds the plasticity limit of material. It finally leads to an increase in valve lash and loss of engine performance. The wear is minimised by reducing the coefficient of friction and by minimizing the compressive stress. In this paper, an attempt has been made to estimate the wear of followers quantitatively. The profile of followers resulting from steady and non-catastropic wear processes is computed by combining a linear wear relation and an elasto-hydrodynamic or boundary lubrication transition model with kinematic analysis. The finite element analysis, AVL TYCON simulation program and classical methodology have been effectively used to predict the follower wear. The model was validated on all types of followers widely varying in size, brake mean effective pressure and speed. The predicted wear profiles exhibit satisfactory agreement with experimental observations. At the end of the paper, a design guideline for designing a cam follower for low wear rate is given.