Porter governor: Definition, Parts, Diagram, Working, Uses [with Pdf]

Hello Friends, Are you looking for Porter governor. 

Before these let’s see briefly about the governor.

• Governor is a device which used in an engine to maintain the mean speed of the engine by controlling the flow of fuel with respect to load on the engine.

• It means that, if the load on the engine increases then it requires more fuel to supply & in another case when the load on the engine decreases, then it requires less amount of fuel to be supplied.

What is a Porter governor?

1] Porter governor is a type of centrifugal governor with a dead weight attached onto the sleeve.

2] The porter governor is basically invented to overcome the disadvantage of the watt governor since the watt governor is not suitable for high-speed engines. In watt governor, it becomes difficult to adjust the fuel supply at a higher speed.

3] Because of the dead weight attached to the sleeve, the flyball requires more effort to lift the sleeve. hence after attaining the required speed of the engine sleeve starts to slide onto the spindle.

4] Hence the difference because of dead weight between the watt governor and porter governor which causes watt governor is not able to control fuel supply at high speed but porter governor has dead weight which helps to control fuel flow even at high speed.

History:-

The porter governor is invented by Charles T. Porter in 1858 to control the speed of the steam engines.

Porter governor diagram:-

Construction:-

The porter governor consists of the following components:- 

1] Arms & links:- Upper end of the arm is pivoted to the spindle and the lower end is connected to the flyball.

One end of the link is connected to flyball & another end of the link is pivoted to the sleeve.

2] Flyballs:- The flyballs are connected between arms & links. The flyballs are rotates with the spindle. 

When the spindle starts to rotate, the flyballs are pushed outward because of centrifugal force which results in the movement of the sleeve over the spindle of the governor.

3] Dead weight :- This is the main component of this governor which makes it different from other governors.

The deadweight exerts extra force onto the sleeve. Hence sleeve is not easily lifted at lower RPM. Hence when the speed of the engine reaches the desired level the sleeve starts to move onto the spindle.

Porter governor working:-

Case- I :- When load on engine increases

1] When load on engine increases, the speed of engine decreases.

2] Because of decrease in rotational speed, the centrifugal force on flyballs decreases and flyballs moves inwards.

3] Hence radius of rotation of flyballs decreases & sleeve will move in downward direction.

4] This movement of sleeve operates the opening of throttle valve by means of bell crank lever.

5] As the sleeve moves downwards, the opening of the throttle valve increases hence the excess fuel will be supplied to the engine.

Case- I :- When load on engine decreases

1] When the load on engine decreases, the speed of engine increases.

2] Because of increase in rotational speed, the centrifugal force on flyball increases & flyballs are pushed outwards.

3] Hence radius of rotation of flyball increases & sleeve will move in upward direction.

4] As the sleeve moves upwards, the throttle valve opening is decreases and the supply of excess fuel is lowered.

Porter governor advantages:-

Porter governor can work at higher RPM due to dead weight attached on sleeve which is its main advantage.

Porter governor application:-

Application of the porter governor is found in the earlier steam engine to control the speed as per load by controlling the fuel flow.

FAQ’s:-

Read also:-

• Hartnell governor