Talk:Centrifugal governor
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"Written by Sam Merkel, age 13, South Dakota, USA"
- (moved from the article page) - thanks, Sam! -- Marj Tiefert 18:20 Sep 7, 2002 (UTC)
This is typically called a "flywheel governor"
"Balls to the Wall"
The phrase originates from the steam centrifugal governor. Since the spinning device could be dangerous, it was enclosed in a cylinder whose inside diameter matched the full speed of the device. When a steam engine, which used this governor, was pushed to full throttle it was said to be "balls to the wall." While there are sources on the internet for this, as far as I know none of them are original sources. There may be original research from language or social experts that can pin the phrase to the steam engine. 216.148.248.75 19:32, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
Tim van Who?
Is there any reason Dynamic System links to a page on a philosopher? 156.34.217.7 16:10, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Some inaccuracies in the first paragrah?
I take issue with the statement that the governor controls engine speed by "regulating the amount of fuel admitted." More properly (as noted in the third paragraph), it controls the opening of a throttling or choking valve that has an effect on the flow of working fluid of the engine (but the opening of the throttling valve does not directly set flow.) In the steam engine, this working fluid is high pressure steam, which contains no "fuel". In the case of a gasoline IC engine, the affected quantity is the air flow into the engine, which may or may not be mixed with "fuel". (In a carbureted engine, it contains fuel; In a ported fuel injection engine, it does not.) In a Diesel engine, where speed control is accomplished directly by fuel control, a flyball governor might be used to control speed by regulating fuel.
Also, the governor may, or may not implement "proportional control" (i.e. control effort linearly proportional to an error signal), depending on it's construction.
I would suggest the following to replace the first paragraph:
"A centrifugal governor is a specific type of governor that affects the speed of an engine by regulating either the flow of the engine's working fluid (such as air or steam) or fuel (as in a Diesel engine). The flow is modulated so as to maintain a near constant speed over a range of mechanical load conditions." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.19.241.244 (talk) 03:22, 23 March 2007 (UTC).
