[Gasification] Governors and engine control.

[Ken Calvert]

G.F. It was an eye opener for me to visit a power station as part of 
university training. It was the station set to keep the frequency and they 
had two clocks. One had a synchronous driven by the frequency of the power 
they were generating and the other was a crystal clock.  And the  power one 
was several seconds behind the other. We students were all horrified but the 
man at the switchboard  was quite casual. Yes we have speeded up the 
alternators just a fraction and by morning we will be back on even again. 
It seemed that the rate of change of frequency was just as important as 
whether they were on GMT Zulu or not.
If you buy two clocks, one of them a plug into the mains job you should be 
be able to fine tune your frequency in the same way over a relatively short 
period.
Another way that I have heard of was  to use an electric motor rather than a 
generator  and excite it with a battery powered but Xtal controlled 
inverter.  However, I am not so sure that this would work because  although 
an electric motor  plugged into the mains and over driven by a primemover 
will generate very efficiently,  and remain locked in phase as it pours 
power back into the mains, I don't think you could work your inverter 
backwards and use it to
charge your batteries, while still acting as a controller of frequency. 
Without some load on the electric motor to drag the engine prime mover back 
into line it would not work.
    My own thought would be to  run  a small battery powered inverter  in 
parrallel to your alternator and  connect  two light bulbs in series between 
them.  With the  two sources running in exact parrallel phase there would be 
zilch voltage difference and the two bulbs would be dark. But as the two 
sources got progressively out of phase the bulbs would start to glow until 
at
180o out of phase both bulbs would be glowing at full brightness with double 
the rated voltage between them.  This is a good way of synchronising two 
generators in phase before connected them together.  When the lights are 
flashing rapidly there is a big difference in rpm.  Throw the connecting 
switch when all is dark and you are fine. Connect when the lamps are lit and 
you can guess the consequences.   I am sure that some of the bright boys who 
are advocating diy electronic solutions in the group,  could build a 
governor control that progresively opened up the throttle when the light was 
getting brighter, and held it steady when the lamps were dark.    All 
strength to your arm.  Ken C.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <gfwhell at aol.com>
To: <gasification at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:33 AM
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Governors and engine control.


> KEN .
> That sounds real painless. I would like to keep the frequency adjusted to 
> the inductive load. Im sure the cruise control will hold the speed pretty 
> constant. so I could install an RPM meter to check frequency.
> The gadget I built had what amounted to a micro differential gear box with 
> a synchronous clock motor connected to each out put shaft. If both motors 
> were running at the same speed the in put shaft remained stationary. if 
> one motor slowed, the input shaft would begin to turn. one motor was 
> energized by a shaver inverter the other from the alternator. The motors 
> were cheap, geared timer motors of the same ratio.
> The "differential" consisted of two springs and 2 thrust bearings.
>
>