Quantum Circuits: Fast and Cool
Optics & Photonics Focus
Volume 12 Story 6 - 24/2/2011

Mechanical automated feedback

James Watt’s famous centrifugal governor illustrates the use of an intrinsic classical feedback mechanism to stabilize a system. The heavy balls at the end of the levers are driven away from the rotational axe as the rotational speed increases. This increases the rotational energy of this device, and stabilizes the angular speed of the machine, which drives the centrifugal governor. Picture: Mirko Junge, Science Museum London.
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Mechanical automated feedback. James Watt’s famous centrifugal governor illustrates the use of an intrinsic classical feedback mechanism to stabilize a system. The heavy balls at the end of the levers are driven away from the rotational axe as the rotational speed increases. This increases the rotational energy of this device, and stabilizes the angular speed of the machine, which drives the centrifugal governor.