Author Topic: A home built govener  (Read 6439 times)

Doug

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A home built govener
« on: February 21, 2008, 09:37:43 PM »
How effective can a govener built around an auto cruise system be?

Any ideas?
http://www.rostra.com/cruise-control.htm
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Bluecometk

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Re: A home built govener
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2008, 10:19:24 PM »
   Hi Doug Its funny, I was just discussing this on the Smokstak Forum. See generators, Subaru engine. At this time it’s about 5/8 way down the page. 
In the past I have used a Subaru cruise control for a gas engine pump governor but not a Gen governor. The pump had to maintain a certain pressure as to not damage the valving from valve surges. I had to install an orifice to dampen the actuator and then adjust the size from there. It held quite well but did have a bit of over swing. I didn’t need to adjust it any more so I left it alone.

I think with a little/lot of tinkering it could work quite well.

Bluecometk




     




Bluecometk

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listeroidsusa1

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Re: A home built govener
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2008, 10:41:35 PM »
I built a similar governor that works quite well, even had some pcb boards etched. I had plans to make these available until I had an email bringing up the "L" word. After his comments I'll just kill the project and forget about it. Its just not worth it with uninformed people wanting to rig the system when it already works well. I'm just a small operator and could never take a chance with the current American mindset. I mean, just how hard is it to hook up 6 marked wires to the proper marked terminals??????

Doug

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Re: A home built govener
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2008, 10:46:14 PM »
Snooping and searching fopr an easier way....

http://www.saturnsurplus.com/governors/governors.htm

More interesting...

http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/31029
« Last Edit: February 22, 2008, 01:43:55 AM by Doug »
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MeanListerGreen

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Re: A home built govener
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2008, 11:17:47 AM »
Here are some complicated looking governors (to me that is).

  http://www.woodward.com/engine/diesel/diesel2/governors.cfm? 

I have often wondered if a governor could be made utilizing one of those digital RPM meters.  The ones that you stick the reflective tape on the moving part and it counts the revolutions.  It seems one of the more electronically capable members (I am clueless about electronics) could tap into one of those and arrange for the signal to control a motor of some sort attatched to the rack.  It seems there there should be one of the  myriad of basic programs that would control it. 
MLG Gib Key Pullers

Bluecometk

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Re: A home built govener
« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2008, 01:15:34 AM »
 New modern Lionel and MTH model trains use a striped tape and reader on the motors flywheel.  They call this speed control. They have a very good governor on them. It can control the speed of an engine to 1 scale mph and keep it constant, if you do the math on the wheel rotation that’s about 10 revs per minute. That would take care of the controller part but I don’t know if you could get a servo to work in such small increments

Just thinking out loud. Disregard this post if it’s stupid.

bluecometk


Bluecometk

Yanmar 10 hp LA-100 DIY genset
2 MTU 2000 V12's
12 KW 4cyl Kolor Genset
35 KW  4cyl  Cumins Genset
3 cyl  Volvo  bow thruster
Onan DJB 6.0 genset
Waiting for a proven Redstone

listeroidsusa1

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Re: A home built govener
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2008, 04:37:59 AM »
A 741 op-amp works great as a level detector. It can take a generated voltage from a tach generator and compare it with a rheostat controlled reference voltage. The output is coupled via a darlington transistor to a solenoid throttle actuator. Of course there is some additional circuitry for safety and to ensure a digital response from the 741 analog chip. With more development the throttle could be analog as well, but the first example works great and holds the speed to a very tightly controlled speed which is fully adjustable via the pot. This system works in conjunction with the original governor. Set the no-load speed by the mechanical governor and the electronics deal with any speed decrease or droop, pulling the throttle to whatever it takes to keep the speed at the setpoint. The digital readout I installed on my engine shows a regulation of 3-5 rpm from no load to full load. (2.5 kw)

Doug

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Re: A home built govener
« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2008, 02:23:26 PM »
"I had plans to make these available until I had an email bringing up the "L" word"

So exactly what happend Mike?

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BruceM

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Re: A home built govener
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2008, 03:09:15 AM »
Maybe Mike will share his governor, since he is not going to sell them.  I'd sure love to see more about it.  The use of a solenoid as a linear actuator is unusual and intriguing.

I also wondered about how the 5.5Hz speed variation due to power stroke would affect (hunting, oscillation) such a simple system.  Was there no need for a damping (acceleration) circuit of some sort? 

Bruce M
« Last Edit: February 25, 2008, 03:17:27 AM by BruceM »