A spring-balanced centrifugal governor uses rotating weights whose centrifugal action is opposed by a spring and transmitted to a control member. This calculator performs selected symmetric speed-band arithmetic only; it does not size the spring, predict equilibrium, droop, stability, hunting or engine regulation.
Spring-Balanced Centrifugal Governor · Selected Speed-Band Ledger
Explore exact symmetric speed-band arithmetic around a selected reference speed.
Equation Used
- Nref is a selected reference speed, not a measured equilibrium speed.
- p is a selected symmetric half-band, not a claimed governor droop or tolerance.
- The arithmetic contains no flyweight, spring, linkage, friction, damping or engine dynamics.
- Actual regulation, stability, hunting, travel, loads, wear and safety are excluded.
Former low/high speed and regulation wording is narrowed to explicitly selected comparison endpoints.
Selected speed-band ledger
An entered half-band percentage p is applied symmetrically around an entered reference speed Nref. The two endpoints and their arithmetic separation are calculated without claiming that a physical governor will hold that band.
What the calculator determines
Use it to translate a selected percentage half-band into rpm endpoints and total span. Mechanical design still requires flyweight mass and radius, spring rate and preload, lever geometry, friction, damping, travel, engine response and test data.
Exact selected relationships
Nlow=Nref(1−p/100); Nhigh=Nref(1+p/100); selected span=Nhigh−Nlow=2Nref p/100; total selected percentage=2p.
Selected-input example
At Nref=450 rpm and p=2%, the selected arithmetic endpoints are 441 and 459 rpm, with an 18 rpm span and a total selected percentage of 4%.
Not a governor design or performance prediction
The selected band is not a promised regulation or droop value. Actual response depends on the complete force and motion geometry, spring characteristic, friction, damping, linkage, controlled machine and load transients.
Questions
Does p specify actual governor droop?
No. It is a selected arithmetic half-band.
Can these values size the spring?
No. The calculator has no flyweight, radius, lever, spring or travel inputs.
References & Further Reading
- Wikipedia contributors. Centrifugal governor. Wikipedia
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