"For safety insure that a mechanical over speed limiter or shut down device set to just above your maximum design speed is in place and functioning before you test your control"

A BIG yes to that. During the initial phase of our trials on the turbine, nobody told this to us :-( and we ended up with a burnt shaft seal due to overspeed.

The other aspect is the point at which the closed loop cuts in after the turbine has started in a open loop mode - OK we just managed with a preset ( safe ) opening of the throttle for a specific number of seconds and then switched over to closed loop. Some rumblings used to be there, but finally the beast will be tamed.

Raghu