Governors

for HNDE (Mech) -Labuduwa

The speed of the engine varies in two ways. Firstly, due to variation in the turning moment
of an engine, which is known as Cyclic Variation. Secondly, is due to the load-speed
characteristics of the engine.
As load on the engine increases, the engine has to do more work. However, due to limited
supply of input fuel, speed of the engine starts decreasing. On the other hand, when the
load on an engine is decreased, the speed of engine shoots up sharply. Thus a feedback
control system is needed which can regulate the supply of fuel as per requirement so that
speed of the engine is maintained within specified limits.
The governor is a mechanically controlled feedback device which maintains the speed of an
engine within permissible range whenever there is a variation of load.
Types of governor
Governors are classified as follows:
(a) Centrifugal governor
- the change in centrifugal forces of the rotating masses due to change in the speed
of the engine is utilized for actuation of mechanism to control the speed.
(b) Inertia governor
- the angular acceleration of engine crank shaft caused by change in speed is
utilized for the movement of revolving masses attached to it. The movement of
revolving masses is decided by the rate of change of speed rather than the
change in speed itself. There fore these governors are more sensitive compared to
centrifugal governors.
Centrifugal governors are further classified as follows:
(i) Watt governor
(ii) Porter governor
(iii) Proell governor

1. Watt Governor.
It consists of a pair of balls attached to the rotating spindle with the help of arm and sleeve.
In this governor, as the speed of spindle fluctuates, the centrifugal force tries to fly out or
flying the balls which results into up and down movement of the sleeve. This movement of
the sleeve is transferred to the throttle valve of an engine through a suitable mechanism to
regulate the speed of engine.

Let

m = mass of the ball

r = radius of rotation
= angular velocity of the

ball
h = height of governor

Assuming that arms and sleeve are mass-less and friction between sleeve and spindle is
negligible.
Consider the equilibrium of the ball.
Taking moment about O, we get :
Height of governor:

m r hmgr =0
h=

g
2

The governor is highly sensitive at low speeds and becomes less sensitive at higher speeds.

2. Porter Governor
The main limitation of Watt governor is that it becomes insensitive when speed is increased
which results into a smaller lift. This limitation can be rectified by introducing a heavy
weight at the sleeve of a Watt governor. A Watt governor loaded with heavy weight at the
sleeve is known as Porter governor.

Let

ms

= mass of the sleeve

f = friction force between sleeve and

spindle.
r = distance between the centre of
rotation of
ball from the axis of rotation.

In a porter governor, due to heavy weight of the sleeve (mg), the friction between sleeve
and spindle becomes important. When balls flyout and sleeve moves up, the friction forces
acts in downward direction which is added to the weight of the spindle ( mg+f). Similarly,
when the sleeve moves down, the friction forces acts in upward direction and resulting
weight of the sleeve will be mg-f.

Kinematically, the links AB and BC can be treated as slider- crank mechanism in which point
C is considered as slider. Therefore, the instantaneous centre of rotation of the arm BC is
point I.

For equilibrium of the governor, the algebraic sum of moments about point I should be equal
to Zero.

m 2 r cmg a

ms g f
(a+b)=0
2

a m gf
a b
m 2 r =mg + s
( + )
c
2
c c

mg tan +

tan mg+

ms g f
(tan + tan )
2

ms g f
tan
(1+
)
2
tan

m gf
r
tan
mg + s
(1+
)
h
2
tan

The operating speed of the governor is given by

2 =

m gf
1
tan
mg+ s
(1+
)
mh
2
tan

And the height of the governor is given by

h=

ms g f
1
tan
mg+
(1+
)
2
2
tan
m

The sleeve will not be able to move up until sufficient increase in the speed takes place
which can overcome this frictional resistance. Thus for a given value of height of the
governor, the Porter governor is insensitive between these two values of angular velocity (

ms g f .
3. Proell Governor
In Proell governor, the rotating balls are mounted on an extension of the lower arm of the
Porter governor. The lower arm of the Porter governor CEF is a one piece arm bent at B.
Under the normal conditions, the extended portion of arm BF remains vertical; however it
changes position with variation in speed. I is the instantaneous centre of rotation of the arm
CEF.

For equilibrium of the governor, the algebraic sum of moments about point I should be equal
to Zero.

m 2 r 1 dmg(a+rr 1)

ms g f
(a+ b)=0
2

If the position extended portion BF is vertical

m 2 r =

m gf
1
mg a+ s
(a+ b)
d
2

c
a m gf
a b
mg + s
( + )
d
c
2
c c

m gf
c
mg tan + s
( tan + tan )
d
2

m gf
c tan
tan

mg+ s
(1+
)
d
mr
2
tan

Comparing the Porter governor equation and Proell governor equation , we find that for
given values of ball mass

, sleeve mass

ms and height of governor h, the effect of

placing balls at point F in Proell governor instead of at point B in Porter governor is

to reduce the equilibrium speed of Proell governor. In other words, for the same
height, Proell governor requires mass of smaller size compared to Porter governor.