Positive feedback stabilization of centrifugal compressor surge

Frank Willems, W.P.M.H. Heemels, Bram de Jager, Antonie Arij Stoorvogel

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    35 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Stable operation of axial and centrifugal compressors is limited towards low mass flows due to the occurrence of surge. The stable operating region can be enlarged by active control. In this study, we use a control valve which is fully closed in the desired operating point and only opens to stabilize the system around this point. As a result, only nonnegative control values are allowed, which complicates the controller design considerably. A novel positive feedback controller is proposed which is based on the pole placement technique. This controller has been successfully applied to a laboratory-scale gas turbine installation. Initial experiments show that the surge point mass flow can be reduced by at least 7%. Using this efficient control strategy, stable operation in the desired operating point is maintained with small average control valve mass flow. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)311-318
    Number of pages8
    JournalAutomatica
    Volume38
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2002

    Keywords

    • EWI-16623
    • Control valves
    • Feedback stabilization
    • Compressor
    • Positive feedback
    • IR-68842
    • Active surge control
    • Piecewise linear controller

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