ME 309 EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

PORTER GOVERNOR

By: Neha Hebbar (17XJ1A0335)

Mufeed Rehman (17XJ1A0334)

Date of Experiment : 15th October, 2019

 INTRODUCTION
The porter governor is a type of simple governor which is an updated version
from watt governor, Porter Governor is a type of governor that contains two equally
weighted balls connected to the arm. This ball contains some specified weight and
this is a simple construction and is easy to maintain. Porter governor is used to
decreasing the fluctuations developed in the engine and supply the required quantity
of fuel to the engine according to the load applied to it. Supply of fuel depends on the
displacement of the sleeve from its bottom point and this sleeve lifted with the help of
balls rotation, when the balls rotate with high speed the sleeve lifted to the maximum
point and the supply of fuel is maximum to the engine.
In the experiment we used different weights 1Kg and 1.5Kg to study the behavior of
the governor. We changed the amount of voltage supplied, which results in the change
in the rpm of the governor hence, there will be a displacement on the scale attached
to the spindle. We changed the weights and followed the same procedure and noted
down the values.
Mathematically, we have the height of the sleeve as

′
h = h − ( X/2) (2.1)

where h’ is the initial height and X is the height gained by the sleeve. This implies
that the height of the governor is

H=h+ (a/tan(α)) (2.2)

where α is the angle between the sleeve and the connecting rod i.e. cos−1(h/L) and a
is the L

distance from the pivot to the center of the spindle. Here, L is the length of the
connecting rod. Now, we can calculate the theoretical angular velocity ω of the ball,
and thus the governor, as follows. First, we note that the radius of rotation (R) and the
angular velocity (ω) are:

R = a+Lsin(α) (2.3)

ω= (2×π×N / 60) rad/s (2.4)

Here, L is the length of each of the connecting links/rods, and N is the measured r pm
of the governor at the given sleeve height. Now, we write the theoretical speed of the
governor Ntho (in rpm) and the generated centrifugal force (Fct) as
 
Ntho= square root of [(1+W/w)×( 91.2g/H )∗ 1000] (2.5)

Fct = (w+W)×tan(α) (2.6)

where w is the weight of each ball and W is the total dead weight on the sleeve
holding the ball. Note that we can only write Fct so simply because the link and
connecting rod lengths are equal for our setup.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The porter governor apparatus consists of Pivot, Arms, Balls, Connecting Rod,
Sleeve, Fuel Pump. The balls are connected to the arms and these arms get connected
at a single point called pivot. The sleeve present on the bottom of the spindle
connected to the balls to move in up and down direction, due to this momentum the
supply of fuel is done. When the balls attached to the arms rotate, the sleeve gets
moved in an upward direction due to the connection between the balls and sleeve, and
this momentum helps to flow the fuel from storage tank to engine. When the sleeve
moves in the upward direction the fuel pump connected to it supplies the fuel
according to the momentum of the sleeve, with the help of this process the
fluctuations can be reduced and helps to function in a smooth condition.

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

For 1.5 kg load:

Table 3.1: represents Sleeve displacements for different rotational speed, Actual and
theoretical values of centrifugal forces generated for 1.5Kg

S.no Sleeve Speed Nact Height of the Theoretical Radius of Actual Theoretical
height (rpm) governor speed rotation force Fca force
X(mm) H(mm) Ntheo(rpm) R(mm) (kg) fct(kg)

1 8 206.3 138.38 187.7 137.48 3.72 3.09

2 32 232.3 117 204.1 141 5.10 3.96
3 55 263.8 99.4 221.4 149.43 6.97 4.85
4 62 296.4 93.51 228.3 152.4 8.98 5.3

For 1 kg load:
Table 3.2: represents Sleeve displacements for different rotational speed, Actual and
theoretical values of centrifugal forces generated for 1Kg
 S.no Sleeve Speed Nact Height of the Theoretical Radius of Actual Theoretical
height (rpm) governor speed rotation force Fca force
X(mm) H(mm) Ntheo(rpm) R(mm) (kg) fct(kg)

1 10 134.4 136.42 174.2 131.69 1.59 2.67

2 16 233.4 130.62 177.8 134.95 4.92 2.87
3 48 244.2 104 199.3 148.12 5.91 3.96
4 65 256.6 90.59 213.6 154.31 6.81 4.8

Centrifugal force, Fca = w×R×ω2/ g×1000

CONCLUSION
The objective of this experiment is to find out about the relations between RPMs
when loaded upon with different weights for different voltages passed on to the
motor. It is generally used to regulate the flow of energy for different speeds. The
plotting of some dependent variables in the experiment has shown that there could be
a source of error in the experimental procedure. This is because of the time taken
before each reading was taken, as the governor takes a lot of time to stabilize and not
vary more than 1rpm, or so. This could be a source of errors.

GRAPHS
Theoretical Fc Vs R/H
Actual Fc Vs R/H

sleeve X Vs Ntheo
250
Theoretical RPM of the governor

200

150
(rpm)

For 1.5kg
100
For 1kg
50

0
0 20 40 60 80
Height gained by sleeve (mm)

sleeve X Vs Nact
 APPENDIX

Length of each link = 137mm

Initial height h’= 100mm
Weight of both balls = 0.3 kg+ 0.3 kg= 0.6 kg
Distance of pivot to center of spindle(a) = 40mm
Weight of Aluminum sleeve(W1) = 1.175 kg
Dead weight on Sleeve (W2) = 1.5 kg(case1), 1kg(case2)
W= W1+W2
Initial pointer scale reading: X” = 0mm
Height gained by sleeve: X= X’-X” = 32mm
Height h = (h’- X/2) = 89.5mm
α = cos-1 (h/L) = 47.3º
Governor height H = a/tanα + h = 117mm
Radius of rotation= a + L sinα = 137.02mm
Actual Centrifugal Force (Fca) = w*R*ω2/ g*1000 (kg) = 5.10 kg
Angular velocity ω= 2πN/60 (rad/sec) = 22.38 rad/sec
Governor speed theoretical (Ntho) = √1+𝑊/𝑤∗√91.2√𝑔∗√1000 (RPM) = 204.1 rpm
Centrifugal Force (theoretical) Fct = (w + W(1+K)/2) tanα (kg) (k=1) = 3.96 kg
g = 9.81m/s