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A flywheel is a big wheel (round thing that turns on its axis).

A mechanical governor is a..... errrmmmm.... is not!

Could a mechanical governor be some sort of robotic administrator??

John.

Flywheel is wheel having a rim at its periphery, of sufficient weight at a given radius, which is created to store Kinetic Energy required for a reciprocating type rotating equipment (Compressor, Pump, Petrol Engine etc).

while Mechanical Governor is used for a Steam Engine, for controlling its speed, like in good days. May have learnt about it during the college days in Laboratory.

It has flying two steel balls loaded with spring and linkages rotate about an axis, such that with the speed of steam engine, balls flyout in proportion to the speed of engine, such that the engine speed is controlled. I do hope you were asking for such thing.

I agree. Think of the flywheel like a device for storing energy. I an I.C. engine the flywheel provides momentum to carry the piston or pistons through their cycle. Because you have a power stroke followed by an exhaust stroke then an injection stroke then the compression stroke, you only have 1 out of 4 strokes providing power. The flywheel keeps things moving as the other 3 strokes go on.

The govenor on the other hand regulates the speed at which this happens. The very first govenors where two heavy balls connected to a shaft via two hinged connecting rods each. When the engine speeds up the balls move outwards because of centrifugal force and the bottom of the connecting rods moves up. When connected to the fuel supply can reduce the amount of fuel going into the cylinders and slow the engine down. Then vice versa.