SoMMME

Department of Mechanical Engineering

FMM3 312: Dynamics of Machines

Introduction – Governors

James K. Kimotho
 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Introduction

Engineering Mechanics

Mechanics of rigid Mechanics of

Mechanics of fluid
bodies deformable bodies

Statics Dynamics
(Deals with forces and its (Deals with forces and its
effects while acting on bodies effects while acting on bodies
at rest) in motion)

Kinetics Kinematics
(Considers the effect of forces (Doesn’t consider the effect of
responsible for motion) forces responsible for motion)

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Control of Engine Speed

Input
Torque
Reference
Output
Speed GOVERNOR ENGINE
Torque

Control feedback
Speed

Load (Torque)
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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Control of Engine Speed

The function of a governor is to regulate the mean speed of an

engine, when there are variations in the load.
For instance, when the load on an engine increases, the speed
decreases, therefore it becomes necessary to increase ethe
supply of the working fluid.
On the other hand, when the load on the engine decreases,
the speed increases and thus less working fluid is required.
The governor automatically controls the supply of working fluid
to the engine with the varying load conditions and keeps the
mean speed within certain limits.
Used mainly in engines of generators and ships not in ordinary
vehicles

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Governor

When the load increases the engine speed reduces, and the
mechanism opens the throttle valve to increase the working
fluid.
Conversely, When the load reduces, the engine speed
increases, and the governor reduces the supply of the working
fluid

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Governor

The function of a flywheel is entirely different from that of a

governor.
It controls speed variation caused by fluctuations of engine
turning moment during each cycle of operation.
It does not control the speed variations caused by varying load
The varying demand for power is met by the governor by
regulating the supply of the working fluid.

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Types of Governors
Governors may be broadly classified as
– Centrifugal governors
– Inertia governors
Governor

Energy control Energy dissipation

type type

Inertia Centrifugal
Governor Governor

Gravity Spring
controlled controlled

Porter Proell Hartnell Hartung Pickering

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Terms used in Governors

Equilibrium Speed
– It is the speed at which the governor balls, arms etc.
are in complete equilibrium and the sleeve does not
tend to move upwards or downwards.
Mean Equilibrium Speed
– It is the speed at the mean position of the balls or the
sleeve.
Height of a Governor
– It is the vertical distance from the centre of the ball to
a point where the axes of the arms (or arms
produced) intersect on the spindle axis. It is usually
denoted by ℎ.
Sleeve Lift
– It is the vertical distance which the sleeve travels due
to change in equilibrium speed.

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Terms used in Governors

Maximum And Minimum Equilibrium Speeds

– The speeds at the maximum and minimum radius of rotation of
the balls, without tending to move either way are known as
maximum and minimum equilibrium speeds respectively.
Note :
– There can be many equilibrium speeds between the mean and
the maximum and the mean and the minimum equilibrium speeds.

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Centrifugal Governors
Working Principle

The centrifugal governors are based on the balancing of

centrifugal force on the rotating balls by an equal and opposite
radial force, known as the controlling force.

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Centrifugal Governors
Working Principle

Governor balls or fly balls revolve with a spindle, which is

driven by the engine through bevel gears.
The upper ends of the arms are pivoted to the spindle, so that
the balls may rise up or fall down as they revolve about the
Spring steel vertical axis.
The downward movement of the sleeve operates a throttle to
increase the supply of working fluid and thus the engine speed
is increased.
The supply of the working fluid decreases when the sleeve
rises and increases when it falls. When the load on the engine
increases, the engine and the governor speed decreases.
This results in Rotating the decrease of centrifugal force on the
balls. Hence weight the balls move inwards and the sleeve
moves down- wards.
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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Watt Governor

The simplest form of a centrifugal governor is a Watt governor,

as shown. It is basically a conical pendulum with links attached
to a sleeve of negligible mass. The arms of the governor may
be connected to the spindle in the following three ways:
a) The pivot P may be on the spindle axis.
b) The pivot P may be offset from the spindle axis and the arms
when produced intersect at O.
c) The pivot P may be offset, but the arms cross the axis at O.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering

Watt Governor

𝑚 = Mass of the ball in kg,

𝑤 = Weight of the ball in newtons = 𝑚. 𝑔, 𝑇 = Tension in the
arm in newtons,
𝜔 = Angular velocity of the arm and ball about the spindle
axis in rad/s,
𝑟 = Radius of the path of rotation of the ball i.e. horizontal
distance from the centre of the ball to the spindle axis in
metres,
𝐹𝐶 = Centrifugal force acting on the ball in newtons = 𝑚𝜔2 𝑟,
ℎ = Height of the governor in metres.

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Watt Governor

From the above equation,

– The speed of the governor is independent of the weight of the ball
– The height of the governor is inversely proportional to the square
of the speed.

Limitation of the Watt governor

– For the simple watt governor, there is appreciable change in the
height of the governor for a given percentage change in speed at
low speeds.
– But at higher speeds, the change in height is very small.
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Department of Mechanical Engineering

Watt Governor
Example 1

Calculate the vertical height of a Watt governor when it rotates

at 60 rpm. Also find the change in vertical height when its
speed increases to 61 rpm.

– Initial height

– New vertical height

– Change in height

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Porter Governor
Working Principle

Porter governors are loaded centrally with dead weight as

shown.
The load moves up and down the central spindle. This
additional downward force increases the speed of revolution
required to enable the balls to rise to a predetermined level.

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Porter Governor
Taking moment of all the external forces about the
instantaneous centre, I

So, it would be observed that the ℎ for a given

percentage change in speed is increased in the
𝑊+𝑤
ratio due to the dead weight.
𝑤
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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Effect of Friction in Porter Governor

Considering friction, the frictional resistance is assumed to be
equivalent to a force R acting on the sleeve.
The equation for the Porter governor will be

The frictional resistance R will be acting downwards when the

sleeve tends to move upwards adding to the weight of the
sleeve.
Similarly, the frictional resistance R will be acting upwards
when the sleeve tends to move downwards decreasing the
weight of the sleeve relatively.
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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Effect of Friction in Porter Governor

From the above equation, it can be observed that for every

configuration, there are maximum and minimum limits of speed
between which the speed vary without change of the
configuration.
From the figure, for given height ℎ, the speed can vary
between 𝑁1 and 𝑁2 without change of the configuration.

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 SoMMME
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thank You
for
Your Kind Attention!
Dr.-Ing. James Kuria Kimotho
[email protected]
Department of Mechanical Engineering
[email protected] JKUAT
P.O. Box 62000-00200
Tel: Nairobi