Functions Of The Governor

As the name itself suggests, a governor is used to keep the speed of diesel engines on a ship within reasonable limits. Learn the basic theory and working of engine governors in this article

Introduction

All marine vessels ranging from a huge cruise liner, big oil tanker, relatively smaller yacht or even a tiny powerboat need some sort of speed control system to control and govern the speed of the marine diesel engine or whatever propulsion plant is being used for the vessel. It would be really impractical and dangerous to have a ship or a boat without speed control mechanism fitted on it, and could lead to accidents such as collision or grounding.

Diesel Engine Speed Governor

The speed control mentioned above is achieved with the help of a governor and we will study about this device here. I would just like to clarify one confusion here that the main role of the governor is not to increase or decrease the speed which can be done via fuel control system (similar to an accelerator on your car) but once the speed of the engine has been set, the job of the governor is to maintain that speed despite the variations in load. In other words the governor controls the speed variation and keeps the speed within restrained limits despite these variations.

The variations could arise from several factors such as say rough weather. A ship rolling and pitching in heavy weather may temporarily come in such position that its propeller is literally out of water and without the governor the speed of the engine could shoot up to such an extent that it could damage the engine itself.
Governors are also fitted in auxiliary diesel engines on the ship used for power generation, and their function remains the same in this situation as well. The power delivered by the alternator needs to be constant despite load variations and this depends to a great degree on the speed at which the prime mover of the generator diesel engine is rotating since the alternator is getting its movement from that engine only. Hence the role of the governor is equally important in this case as well.

A Simple Direct Action Governor

 

 The figure below explains the working of an elementary governor known as direct action governor. It is a purely mechanical device working on the principle of centrifugal force acting on rotating/revolving bodies. The working of this governor can be clearly understood if you see the diagram carefully before reading further.

The governor spindle is rotated through a gear mechanism via the engine shaft whose speed needs to be governed. There are flyweights which rotate along with the governor spindle and they are thrown outwards (as shown by arrows in diagram), and the degree of their outward motion is in proportion to the speed at which the shaft and hence the spindle is rotating.
The spring fitted on the spindle acts to return the flyweights to their original position and hence counters the centrifugal force acting on the flyweights.
The net results of all this action is that the spindle moves vertically up or down depending on the position of the flyweights and this motion is transmitted to the appropriate mechanism which results in actual speed change.

Differentials..Full

If you've read How Car Engines Work, you understand how a car's power is generated; and if you've read How Manual Transmissions Work, you understand where the power goes next. This article will explain differentials -- where the power, in most cars, makes its last stop before spinning the wheels.

The differential has three jobs:

• To aim the engine power at the wheels
• To act as the final gear reduction in the vehicle, slowing the rotational speed of the transmission one final time before it hits the wheels
• To transmit the power to the wheels while allowing them to rotate at different speeds (This is the one that earned the differential its name.)

In this article, you'll learn why your car needs a differential, how it works and what its shortcomings are. We'll also look at several types of positraction, also known as limited slip differentials.

Why You Need a Differential

Car wheels spin at different speeds, especially when turning. You can see from the animation that each wheel travels a different distance through the turn, and that the inside wheels travel a shorter distance than the outside wheels. Since speed is equal to the distance traveled divided by the time it takes to go that distance, the wheels that travel a shorter distance travel at a lower speed. Also note that the front wheels travel a different distance than the rear wheels.

For the non-driven wheels on your car -- the front wheels on a rear-wheel drive car, the back wheels on a front-wheel drive car -- this is not an issue. There is no connection between them, so they spin independently. But the driven wheels are linked together so that a single engine and transmission can turn both wheels. If your car did not have a differential, the wheels would have to be locked together, forced to spin at the same speed. This would make turning difficult and hard on your car: For the car to be able to turn, one tire would have to slip. With modern tires and concrete roads, a great deal of force is required to make a tire slip. That force would have to be transmitted through the axle from one wheel to another, putting a heavy strain on the axle components.

 

What is a Differential?

The differential is a device that splits the engine torque two ways, allowing each output to spin at a different speed.

The differential is found on all modern cars and trucks, and also in many all-wheel-drive (full-time four-wheel-drive) vehicles. These all-wheel-drive vehicles need a differential between each set of drive wheels, and they need one between the front and the back wheels as well, because the front wheels travel a different distance through a turn than the rear wheels.
Part-time four-wheel-drive systems don't have a differential between the front and rear wheels; instead, they are locked together so that the front and rear wheels have to turn at the same average speed. This is why these vehicles are hard to turn on concrete when the four-wheel-drive system is engaged.