Governor for speed control and synchronization of various systems

Abstract

As automation in industry is taking over several manual processes, synchronisation between various stages of a process is increasingly becoming important. This can eliminate the need for manual synchronisation which can be tedious and inaccurate. Inaccuracy can result in damage to the components and machines. In this dissertation, a research about the speed control characteristics of various machines and motors that are commonly used worldwide was carried out to determine the best way of controlling each system. Also an extensive simulation of a PID control was carried to determine the best way to implement this system for phase synchronisation control. First the principle of a speed governor and how it controls the speed of a machine through a closed loop system was explained in some detail. A mechanical way to control speed is by a centrifugal governor while electronically the most used system nowadays is a PID controller. A PID was implemented to phase synchronise two permanent magnet DC motors. The speed of one motor was used a reference while the PID controls the speed of the other motor. A set of simulations was done with different settings for the PID and different loads on the DC motor to analyse the system response.