Patent ID: 11867237
Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
Field: Mechanical elements (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  H | IPC F

Claim 0:
1. A rolling element cam comprising:
a drive cam that has a plurality of drive cam grooves formed at one end surface of the drive cam, wherein the drive cam is configured to be rotated by torque outputted from a drive device;
a plurality of rolling elements that are rotatably installed in the plurality of drive cam grooves, respectively; and
a driven cam that has a plurality of driven cam grooves formed at one end surface of the driven cam while each of the plurality of rolling elements is clamped between a corresponding one of the plurality of drive cam grooves and a corresponding one of the plurality of driven cam grooves, wherein:
when relative rotation is made between the driven cam and the drive cam, the driven cam is moved relative to the drive cam in an axial direction;
each of the plurality of drive cam grooves has:
a drive cam slope groove, at which a groove bottom is sloped relative to the one end surface of the drive cam such that a depth of the groove bottom continuously decreases from one side toward another side in a circumferential direction of the drive cam;
a drive cam planar groove, at which the groove bottom is parallel to the one end surface of the drive cam such that the depth of the groove bottom is constant in the circumferential direction of the drive cam; and
a drive cam connection groove that has:
one end connected to an end of the drive cam slope groove located on the another side in the circumferential direction of the drive cam; and
another end connected to an end of the drive cam planar groove located on the one side in the circumferential direction of the drive cam, wherein a slope angle of the groove bottom relative to the one end surface of the drive cam continuously changes from the one end to the another end of the drive cam connection groove;

each of the plurality of driven cam grooves has:
a driven cam slope groove, at which a groove bottom is sloped relative to the one end surface of the driven cam such that a depth of the groove bottom continuously decreases from one side toward another side in a circumferential direction of the driven cam;
a driven cam planar groove, at which the groove bottom is parallel to the one end surface of the driven cam such that the depth of the groove bottom is constant in the circumferential direction of the driven cam; and
a driven cam connection groove that has:
one end connected to an end of the driven cam slope groove located on the another side in the circumferential direction of the driven cam; and
another end connected to an end of the driven cam planar groove located on the one side in the circumferential direction of the driven cam, wherein a slope angle of the groove bottom relative to the one end surface of the driven cam continuously changes from the one end to the another end of the driven cam connection groove.