Both flywheel and governor are mechanical devices used mostly for the same purpose; that is to control or regulate the fluctuations in speed with the exception of the point of impact.While a flywheel regulates the variation of speed at crankshaft, governor controls the variation of speed caused by load variation.Let us first understand the applications of flywheel and governor and then we will come to differences.
FLYWHEEL:
A flywheel is a heavy rotating wheel attached to a revolving shaft that smooths out the delivery of power of a reciprocating engine due to the difference between the driving torque and the active torque over the cycle of operation.
Basically, it’s a mechanical device specifically designed to store rotational energy. It acts as a reservoir, meaning it stores energy when the supply of the energy is more than that is required for the operation and releases the same when the supply is less than the requirement.
GOVERNOR:
A governor is also a mechanical device that controls mean speed of the engine when there are variations in the load. It’s essentially a speed-controller device used to measure and regulate the speed of the machine irrespective of the load variations. It maintains the speed of the engine within specified limits regardless of load variations.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FLYWHEEL AND GOVERNOR:
SUMMARY:
While the function of a flywheel is to regulate the fluctuations of speed during each cycle, the function of a governor is to keep the mean speed of the engine constant throughout the entire cycle. Flywheel stores rotational energy when the mechanical energy supplied is more than that’s required for operation, whereas a governor regulates the fuel supply according to the varying load conditions. While hypothetically both serve the same purpose, that is speed control, they do it very differently. The main difference in fact lies in the point of impact
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