Compression

Ashok Gupta

Contents

Compressors
Why needed and principle Types, advantages, disadvantages and multistage compression

Construction features - casing, seals and bearings etc. Gas system Oil system Operational problems

COMPRESSION

Purpose of Compression: To increase the Pressure of the gas or vapor as per the requirement of process.

Compression can be categorised mainly in three ways

Isothermal Adiabatic Polytropic

COMPRESSION

P V n = constant For Isothermal

Polytropic compression
Adiabatic compression

n = 1

For Adiabatic n = g For Polytropic 1<n<g

Isothermal compression

Where g = Cp / Cv

Volume

TYPES OF COMPRESSORS

Positive displacement - Constant volume, variable pressure machine. * Reciprocating compressor * Screw compressor Dynamic compressorsConstant pressure, variable volume machine. * Centrifugal compressors * Axial flow compressors

PRINCIPLE OF CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR

Kinetic energy of the gas is increased by centrifugal action of impellers. This kinetic energy is converted into pressure energy by a device called diffuser . Modern practice is to design the compressor so that about half the pressure rise occurs in the impeller and half in the diffuser .

COMPARISON OF CENTRIFUGAL & POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT COMPRESSORS

Advantage of centrifugal /axial compressor:

Occupy less space . Less maintenance cost . Higher volumetric capacity . Less noise . Less initial investment . Contamination of oil with compressed gas is almost negligible .

COMPARISON OF CENTRIFUGAL & POSITIVE DISPLACEMENT COMPRESSORS

Advantage of positive displacement compressor:

Higher efficiency at low capacity. Flexibility in capacity selection. High discharge pressure/high compression ratio.

SELECTION CRITERIA FOR COMPRESSORS

105
104* Disch. Press psia 103* Centrifugal 102 Reciprocating * Axial flow

10 * 1

10

* * * Inlet flow , acfm

* 105

106

CONSTANT SPEED PERFORMANCE CURVE FOR CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSOR

%
efficiency h e a d % H P

Head
* * Efficiency *

*
Horse power

Volumetric flow

Inter-stage Separator

Purpose:
To remove moisture / condensate

Place:
used after the cooler

Effect, if not working:

It may cause damage to the machine- e.g.
high vibration rotor unbalance pitting corrosion of impellers clogged diffuser passages, etc.

MULTISTAGE COMPRESSION

Multistage compression is used in centrifugal compressors to develop a higher head at a high efficiency / lower power requirement.
Interstage cooling is introduced to increase efficiency by approaching isothermal operation. Better mechanical balance is achieved by back to back arrangement of adjacent stages.

MULTISTAGE COMPRESSION ( CONTINUED )

The shaded portion represents the work saved in multistage compression with intercoolers.

pressure Isothermal compression

Adiabatic compression

Volume

COMPRESSOR CASING

Two types of casings are in use for multistage centrifugal compressors.

Horizontally split ( MCL type ): * used upto 40 ata. Barrel type / vertically split ( BCL ): * used above 40 ata.

COMPRESSOR CASING & BEARING

The compressor rotor is subjected to an axial thrust towards the suction due to differential pressure between suction and discharge. To minimize this thrust a back to back arrangement of successive stages is provided in case of multistage compressors.
A balance drum absorbs the thrust partially ( about 90% ). Rest is absorbed by thrust bearing. Journal bearing pads dampens the radial vibration of the rotor.

SEALS
Seals are used to minimize/prevent the gas

leakages
Types of seals* * * * Labyrinth seals oil seal Gas seal Inert gas seal

SEALS

Labyrinth seals are used

To reduce gas leakage, between stationary and rotating parts To prevent reverse flow of gas between the stages and between discharge and suction of each impeller To minimize the gas leakage between the two faces of balancing drum To prevent gas leakage between the final discharge and intermediate stages

SEALS

End seals are provided at both ends of shaft to prevent gas leakage from inside of the compressor to the surroundings
If the gas is not expensive and non - hazardous: * Labyrinth seals are provided at both ends If the gas is expensive / toxic / poisonous / explosive: * Oil seals are provided along with labyrinth seals When oil seals are not advisable: * Labyrinth seal is properly supplemented by inert gas sealing

Labyrinth Seal

Labyrinth seals are made up of corrosionproof , light alloy relatively softer than the material of shaft and impeller so to prevent any damage to the latter

MINIMUM LABYRINTH CLEARANCE

Compressor efficiency increases when clearance in inter-stage labyrinth is minimized. But when the rotor becomes slightly unbalanced or vibration occurs from another source, the seals will wear rapidly . If clearance is increased, efficiency will decrease and allowing greater leakage. To prevent this problem:
Minimum clearance is equal to the sum of * Bearing clearance. * Rotor run out at the seal due to its weight. * A given amount of mass unbalance.

LUBE OIL / SEAL OIL SYSTEM

Lube oil is supplied at journal and thrust bearings and couplings at a definite pressure. Oil supply pressure may be increased in case of increase in bearing temperature.
A lube oil accumulator is provided to maintain oil pressure during oil pump changeover on auto. The system is provided with overhead lube oil tank to continue supply of oil when both oil pumps ( online and standby ) has stopped working , ensuring safety of machine parts .

LUBE OIL / SEAL OIL SYSTEM

Part of the lube oil is used as seal oil. Apart from preventing gas leakage seal oil also serves the purpose of seal cooling. Seal oil flows at the outer side of the labyrinth seal whose pressure is always greater than the pressure of reference gas which is at the inner side. A part of the seal oil which mixes with the reference gas is known as sour oil . Sour oil is degassed before returning to the oil reservoir.

WHAT IS SURGE
A compressor is said to be surging, when there is a sudden reversal of flow through the machine . The head developed by a compressor depends on its speed . When the head or pressure in the system increases beyond the head developed by the compressor, the compressor will not be able to deliver the gas to the system . At this stage, the gas will try to flow back into the impellers and whereas the impellers try to blow the gas out . This causes an unsteady condition . This phenomenon is known as surge . Trouble free operation can be expected if the compressor is operated at the right side of surge line

WHAT IS SURGE ( CONTINUED )

Of any compressor as shown in figure .

PRESSURE RATIO

UNSTABLE

STABLE

100% SPEED 90% SURGE LINE 80%

INLET VOLUME

WHAT CAUSES SURGE

Surging takes place due to sudden changes in process condition. These are as follows.

Reduced molecular weight. Higher suction temperature. Lower suction pressure. Higher discharge pressure. Lower speed of machine for variable speed machine.

WHAT CAUSES SURGE

If molecular weight of a constant speed machine is suddenly reduced, so compressor must now deliver a greater Polytropic head to overcome same back pressure at discharge with low density gas, so it will pump less gas

SURGE AT CONSTANT SPEED

Surge taking place due to increase of delivery pressure . FIG ( 2 ) PRESSURE

UNSTABLE
b* *c a *

STABLE

d110% * 100% SPEED 90% SURGE LINE 80% FLOW ( Q )

SURGE UNDER CONSTANT PRESSURE CONDITION

Surge taking place when gas flow is reduced . hence speed also reduced to maintain system pressure . PRESSURE

UNSTABLE
b * a *

STABLE

*c

110% 100% SPEED 90% SURGE LINE 80% FLOW ( Q )

d *

EFFECT OF SURGE
When a machine is operated under surge conditions for a long time, The pressure force can damage the internals of machine. It absorbs approximately 10% more power. Excess power is converted into heat, causes excessive temp. rise inside the compressor, if conditions are severe enough, can damage shaft & balance piston labyrinth. This will affect the rotor balancing and overload thrust bearing. If thrust bearing fails the rotor will shift axially and impeller will rub against stationary parts of casing causing severe damage.

STONE WALL EFFECT

The upper limit of capacity is determined by the phenomenon of STONE WALL . Stone wall occurs when the velocity of the gas approaches its sonic velocity somewhere in compressor. Sonic barrier is generally reached at the eye of the compressor. Shock waves result which restrict the flow, causing a choking effect, rapid fall off in the discharge pressure for a slight increase in volume throughput. Stone wall is usually not a problem when compressing air and lighter gases, however in compressing gases heavier than air, problem become more prevalent.

PERFORMANCE OF CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSORS WITH VARIABLE SPEED

The performance of centrifugal compressors, at speed other then design, are such that the capacity will vary directly as speed, the head developed as square of the speed, and the required horse power as the cube of speed . With variable speed, the compressor easily can deliver constant capacity at variable pressure, variable capacity at constant pressure, or a combination of variable capacity and variable pressure. By varying speed, the centrifugal compressors will meet any load and pressure demanded by the process within the operating limits of the compressor

FACTORS AFFECTING DECISION OF CONTROL

The type of control used depends first on compressor driver. For turbine driven compressors, normal control is accomplished by varying the speed . Speed control is more efficient than throttling the flow at constant compressor speed since, by artificially creating resistance, an unrecoverable loss of power results . For motor driven compressors, the control can become more intricate. Common methods are : * Speed control. * Inlet throttling . * Adjustable inlet guide vanes. * Antisurge control

FACTORS AFFECTING DECISION OF CONTROL ( continued)

100%
Unthrottled

Percent horsepower

Suction throttling
Adjustable guidevane Surge limit line Speed control

Percent inlet capacity

100%

CRITICAL SPEED

Every compressor / turbine shaft has a particular length, diameter, weight, volume, contour of shaft or configuration of the shaft, material of construction and mountings . For the above factors the compressor / turbine shaft itself has particular frequency one or more than one, called the natural frequency of the shaft . For practical reasons mass centre of the shaft never coincides with the geometric axis . As a result, when the shaft rotates by any driving force, then there will be a transverse force whose direction of rotation at the same speed as the shaft with a particular frequency . This frequency is called rotor frequency or shaft frequency .

CRITICAL SPEED ( CONTINUED )

At a particular RPM when the natural frequency of the rotor or shaft, coincides with the rotor or shaft frequency, then there will be a resonance, causing excessive vibration and hence tending to deflect the shaft . That RPM or speed is known as critical speed . There may be one or more than one critical speed . Operating speed must be beyond the range of critical speeds .

ANTISURGE CONTROL

Purpose of antisurge control is to maintain a minimum flow through the compressor so as to avoid conditions leading to surge . This can be achieved by providing at the discharge * a bleed valve ( for cheap / non - toxic gases ) * a recycle valve ( for costly / toxic gases )

The parameters taken into account for antisurge control, are : * Suction pressure * Discharge pressure * F low through the machine * Speed of rotation

ANTISURGE CONTROL

Hp = Polytropic head Ps = Suction pressure

Surge limit line

Recycle trip line

Safety on Hp * Ps Surge control line

SO

RT Margin of safety

Flow input

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