Governor basics

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Identify the following components: Flyweights
Droop fulcrum lever

Compensation range fulcrum lever

Compensation rate needle valve
Servo/power piston
Synchronizer clutch
Explain the purpose/function of the following: Load limit
Droop fulcrum lever
Compensation range fulcrum lever
Remote synchronizing/speed setting
Pressure oil accumulators
Gear pump N/R valves
Droop

the difference between stable full load speed and stable no load speed.
Isochronous

constant, stable speed regardless of load.

Governor Effort

the resultant force due to imbalance between centrifugal and spring force which is available to move the fuel
control.
Dead band

the change in speed required, increase or decrease, before the governor takes action.
Stability

ability to achieve equilibrium (stable speed) for different loads.

Sensitivity


measure of the deviation in speed required to achieve a given output. A sensitive or fine governor requires
only a small change in speed to give a large output movement. Similarly a coarse governor requires a large speed
change for a small output movement.
Diesel engine governors are essentially devices which are required to control either the engine speed or the engine
load. They must be capable of detecting change in speed or load and then apply the corrective action required with
sufficient force to overcome fuel linkage resistance.
They may be designed to control either with a fall in speed with an increase in load (droop), or with a constant speed
regardless of load (isochronous).
We can start by looking at a basic mechanical governor and from this develop the more sophisticated mechanical hydraulic and electronic governor.

Basic mechanical governor

A basic mechanical, or centrifugal, governor consists of a pair of flyweights connected to a pair of pivoted bell cranks
and driven from the engine. The bell crank arms act on a spring loaded collar connected to the fuel pump linkage. It
operates in such a way that an increase in engine speed (e.g.due to a load reduction) results in the flyweights moving
out, due to the increased centrifugal force, which causes the pivoted bell cranks to act to move the collar and fuel
pump linkage in the direction of reduced fuel. This also acts to compress the spring and so increases the spring force.
The increased spring force and centrifugal forces will reach an equilibrium point at some new, higher speed.
If we take the practical case into consideration then we must consider the effect of friction within the governor and
linkage. The engine speed must now rise by an amount that will generate an increase in the centrifugal force
sufficient to overcome the friction in the mechanism before any governor action occurs. Similarly if we consider a fall
in engine speed then the decrease in centrifugal force will have to be equal to the frictional force present before any
movement of the fuel linkage can occur. This range of speed without response is termed the dead band and is
inherent in this type of governor.
Before equilibrium at the new speed is reached there will be a certain amount of speed fluctuation, or hunting, about
the steady speed. The period and magnitude of these fluctuations will depend on the sensitivity of the governor which
in turn depends on the masses of the flyweights. The greater the mass the coarser the regulation and this results in a
short period but a large temporary deviation. Conversely small masses give a long period with small temporary
deviations. It is also possible to increase the governor effort by using large masses and high speeds (step up gearing)
but there is a limit to this.
It is obvious that this type of governor would be of little use where close control of speed is necessary, (e.g. A C
generators), or where a high governor effort is required, (e.g. movement of main engine fuel rack). These deficiencies
can be overcome by the introduction of hydraulic servo governors.
Inadequacies of mechanical governors

spring type
limited governor effort
high friction potential
unstable

unique speed with each loadGovernor

adjustments

Compensation range
This adjustment is effected by altering the position of the fulcrum on the lever connection between the servo out put
linkage and the compensation transmitter piston.
Compensation rate
This adjustment is effected by setting the compensation needle valve once the range has been set. In practice the
needle valve is opened out until the control just becomes unstable and then the valve is closed back in 1/4 of a turn.
In addition to setting the compensation rate at initial installation the needle valve is also used to assist cleaning of the
governor when flushing through and also to purge system of air in the event that air becomes entrained in the
hydraulic circuit. Adjustment necessary if response is sluggish (possibly air in system), engine speed hunts or if
engine over-speeds at start up.
Local speed setting (Synchonising control)
Primarily there in case remote system fails but can be used for fine tuning and for testing of overspeed.
Speed setting indicator (Synchonising indicator)
Essentially a counter to indicate the number of turns that have been made by the speed setting control. Usually has a
minimum and maximum fuel setting limit facility incorporated.
Load limiting
Limits the working maximum fuel and so maximum load within the absolute maximum limit set for the governor. This
facility is usually required following overhaul when a limit on the engine load is required during running in. Can also
be used for local shutdown in some cases depending on the minimum load setting set above.
Speed droop

This setting is effected by altering the position of the droop lever fulcrum point. The setting is adjusted to give stable
operation of the governor. Also needs to be used to select isochronous or droop operation when generator load
sharing is required.

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Governors
Mechanical governors
These fall into the oldest class of governors whose history goes back to the invention of
the steam engine.

Watt type

The governor assembly is directly driven from the engine. Flyweights are rotated and
act to draw the slide up the drive shaft due to centrifugal force pushing them out

Hydraulic governors
A simple mechanical governor must overcome friction in the linkages and exert a
controlling force. These forces act in different directions depending upon whether the
load is increasing or decreasing.The effect of this friction is to create a deadband
In hydraulic governors this effect is negated by having oil pressure act as the
controlling force

This simple system has inherent stability due to the the on/off nature of oil being
suppled to the system control due to the control land just covering the outlet ports.
Oversizing the land would create stability but at the expense of reintroducing a
deadband

Servoed system with feedback

An Alternative is to lead the outlet oil to a servo system. The servo piston can be either
spring return

or Differential

In the former case the servo is held in the decrease fuel position by spring pressure, in
the latter the servo piston is pushed down by supply oil pressure. Note that the control
side of the servo piston has greater areas than the supply oil side therefore when
control oil is supplied it is able to lift the piston against it
Should the engine speed fall the flyweights will tend to fall towards the axis rotation
due to pressure from the speeder spring overcoming the reduced centrifugal force. The
pilot valve moves down and the control land allows oil to flow to the servo piston raising
it. When the engine speed increases the flyweights begin to overcome the speeder
spring and the pilot valve moves up covering the servo supply port
In this design Setpoint may be varied by use of an adjusting screw altering the
compression of the speeder spring. In addition Feedback is given to increase stability.
The term applied to this is Droop
Droop
Droop is defined as the reduction in speed compared to set speed over full load change
x 100 as is expressed as a percentage
When the governor reacts to load change then inertia of the engine response can lead
to overshoot in speed change which can have a cumulative effect. To prevent this a

feedback system is used. In the case of the governor systems above this has the effect
of modifying the speed set point .

Should the engine speed fall the flyweights will tend to fall towards the axis rotation
due to pressure from the speeder spring overcoming the reduced centrifugal force. The
pilot valve moves down and the control land allows oil to flow to the servo piston raising
it. This increases the fuel supply to the engine but also reduces the speed set point as
the feed back lever is also raised moving the connection to the speed spring upwards
reducing spring pressure. The Flyweights ar able to raise the pilot valve closing off the
supply of oil to the servo
The engine will now run with some degree of stability. However it will not run at set
speed.
Compensation
This allows for the stabilising effect of droop but maintains original set point speed.

Should the engine speed fall due to the impact of increased load thecontrol land will fal
allowing supply oil pressure to pass through. As well as forcing up the servo piston via
the action on the buffer spring it also acts on the underside of the compensation land

were it tends to push the pilot valve up against the force of the speeder spring. The
pressure differential across the compenation land bleeds off via the compensation screw
as the engine returns to normal speed This is known astemporary droop

Alternately

. Compensation takes place to provide a further slight fuel change to return the speed
to normal. The centering spring forces the receiving piston downwards and oil escapes
through the adjustable valve.. This lowers that end of the floating lever until both
centering springs are equally loaded and that end of the floating lever is in its original
position. The pilot valve is open slightly allowing oil to the servo which gives a further
slight increase in fuel. The engine speeds up, the rotating weights move out and the
pilot valve is lifted until it is closed. The engine now operates with increased load,
increased fuel but at the same original speed.
Complete assembly

Load sharing
Engines share load increase in the inverse ratios of their speed droop. i.e. the lower the
value of droop the greater the share of the load increase taken

Electric Governors
Electric governors have become in favour due to their compact size, rapid response and
high reliability allied to low maintenance costs.
The main part of the governor is the controller and signal amplifier. This receives a D.C.
signal proportional to the engine speed and compares it to a speed set signal. The
difference between the measured value (engine speed) and the set value is the offset,
this offset value is passed to the output circuit which produces an appropriate output
signal . In this case, a signal which raises or lowers the fuel rack by an amount
dependent on the degree of offset. This system is inherently stable due to the feedback
layout.
For this system the engine speed is measured using an alternator driven off the
camshaft- this is a common arrangement. The speed set signal is typically supplied by
the bridge control arrangement via the engine management system.
An arrangement for a generator set might replace the camshaft driven alternator with a
tapping off the alternator output. The frequency of the alternator output is now the

measured value. In addition a load sensing element can be introduced detecting

changes in current flow. For increased current, that is an increased electrical load, the
governor can act to supply increased fuel before the engine has began to slow.