Determining Incremental Regulation and Dead Band of Governors on Steam Turbine Generators Under System Load Conditions

The purpose of this paper is to present some of the reasons for testing steam turbine governors and to describe a method which makes it possible to determine the incremental regulation, dead band and stability of a governor connected to a large power system. The test equipment described has no mechanical inertia or lost motion and requires only connections to the potential and current metering circuits of the generator. The values obtained show the corresponding load change on the generator for any change in frequency. It is believed that these are the values which are most desired and are obtained directly under actual operating conditions of the unit without resort to assumptions as to the relationship between inlet valve movement and generator output. Some difficulties have been encountered and these are discussed with the hope that the work so far completed may be of interest to others and may stimulate thought towards a more simplified system for determining governor performance.