How Over Speeding can be Harmful?

A Diesel engine is designed for the mechanical stress associated with the centripetal and centrifugal forces of the
moving parts inside it in a specified operational range. Centripetal force is directly proportional to the square of the
rotational speed, stress increases rapidly with increase in speed. Mechanical connection strength can be overcome
by the exceeding stresses due to the increase in operational speed. These can result in breaking of rotating parts or
damage to the machinery itself. Over speed is thus a serious safety hazard and can lead to a fatal situation.

What does Over Speed Trip Does?

Due to sudden changes in the load on the diesel engine, the speed of the engine may vary. Though a governor is
provided to control the speed of the diesel engine, the speed might go out of control, damaging the engine. Thus, for
this reason over speed trips are used.
No matter what type of the over speed trip the engine uses, the main aim of the over speed trip is to cut the fuel
supply to the engine cylinders in case the engine speed rises above a specific level.
Preventing Over Speeding of Engine
Reducing the likelihood of an uncontrolled and catastrophic over speed is essential and can be done by two methods:
a)

Mechanical over speed trip

b)

Electronic over speed trip

In this article we will have a look at the electronic over speed trip.
Electronic Over Speed Trip
To understand the electronic over speed trip, a normal lay out of the system is described below. The electronic over
speed trip consists of

a) Fly wheel mounted speed sensor

Magnetic speed sensor is preferred in generator engines. Due to the discontinuity of actuator surface (gear tooth of
flywheel) voltage is excited in the pick off coil of sensor, producing an electric analog wave. This cyclic wave created
by the flywheel is read by the sensor.

b) Signal condition unit

This unit act as a receiver to the speed sensor. Basic function of the signal conditioner is to convert one type of
electronic signal which may be difficult to read into another type into a more easily read format. This can be achieved
by amplification, excitation and linearization of an electrical signal.
c) Detection and Comparison unit
There is a set value which is normally 10 % above the rated speed and acts as base value for this unit. Signal
condition unit output is continuously detected and compared with the set value.
d) Trip signal unit
If the difference between the set value and detected value is above the limit, then this unit gives a trip signal which in
turn shuts down the generator.

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Use of Overspeed Regulatory Mechanism in Ships

written by: Ricky edited by: Lamar Stonecypher updated: 7/12/2011
How do you check that the speed of the main marine diesel engine does not shoot to dangerous limits in certain situations?

We have learned about the relay

governors used in ship auxiliary engines whose main purpose was to control the speed variation under changing loads as well as to
act as a safeguard in case of lubricating oil failure to the engine. There might be conditions when the governor needs to regulate
the engine speed immediately not only in case of lubricating oil failure but also due to over speeding as that may cause extensive
damage to the engine in emergency situation. One such situation could be that the propeller of the ship might get lost due to
extremely rough weather or some other problem.

Overspeed Governors
Overspeed governors are the answer to the problem in such situations and act to control the speed if there is suddenly a great
variation of speed of the order of about 10% of the running speed.

The working diagram of such an overspeed governor is shown here. If you notice closely it is not much different from that of a
governor used to control the auxiliary engine speed on ships. But there is one main difference though and that is that this type of
speed governor does not come into action for minor variations of speed but only comes into action for a major variation in speed.
Hence the difference lies in the basic design characteristics of the governor. The working of this device can be understood by
following the logical steps of its operation as follows.

Let us suppose a ship is running and suddenly looses its propeller.

The speed would instantly increase due to decrease in load
This will be sensed by the flywheels and they will jump outwards
The thrust collar A moves forward and moves the linkage B
Servomotor slide valve F gets pushed upwards
The oil flowing under servo piston E gets affected
The fuel pump admission settings get lowered

Finally when the speed starts to decrease, the reverse process takes place unless normal speed is restored. Of course all this
happens very quickly though it has taken a long time to describe.

Isochronous Mode
Governors used to control the speed of main marine diesel engines are normally run in the isochronous mode. This basically means
that the speed of the engine would remain the same irrespective of changes in engine load. Of course there is a very small time
period following a change in load when the governor stabilizes the speed to its original value and the speed can vary slightly during
that period of time.
We also learnt about droop in our previous article and I would like to mention at this stage that although the main diesel engines
could be run without droop known as zero droop settings, yet it is not advisable to run smaller generators associated with power
generation with such settings. There should be a minimum droop associated in these mainly to achieve a smooth load division
amongst these machines. We will discuss about load sharing in a separate article though.
Companies Making Governors
There are many companies which make governors for marine applications and one such company is known as Woodward Governor
Company which is a niche company manufacturing governor units for all sorts of marine applications. In our next article we will
study the working of one such actual governor in detail.

Image Credits
Marine Diesel Engines: Principles & Practice by D.K. Sanyal.

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Overspeed Governor

Let us suppose a ship is running and suddenly looses its propeller.

The speed would instantly increase due to decrease in load
This will be sensed by the flywheels and they will jump outwards
The thrust collar A moves forward and moves the linkage B
Servomotor slide valve F gets pushed upwards
The oil flowing under servo piston E gets affected
The fuel pump admission settings get lowered
Finally when the speed starts to decrease, the reverse process takes place unless normal speed is restored. Of course all this
happens very quickly though it has taken a long time to describe.

Isochronous Mode
Governors used to control the speed of main marine diesel engines are normally run in the isochronous mode. This basically means
that the speed of the engine would remain the same irrespective of changes in engine load. Of course there is a very small time

period following a change in load when the governor stabilizes the speed to its original value and the speed can vary slightly during
that period of time.
We also learnt about droop in our previous article and I would like to mention at this stage that although the main diesel engines
could be run without droop known as zero droop settings, yet it is not advisable to run smaller generators associated with power
generation with such settings. There should be a minimum droop associated in these mainly to achieve a smooth load division
amongst these machines. We will discuss about load sharing in a separate article though.
Companies Making Governors
There are many companies which make governors for marine applications and one such company is known as Woodward Governor
Company which is a niche company manufacturing governor units for all sorts of marine applications. In our next article we will
study the working of one such actual governor in detail.