Refrigeration compressor anti-surge

control
A refrigeration compressor requires the same high-performance and fast-
acting surge control technology as other gas compression circuits

MEDHAT ZAGHLOUL and WAYNE JACOBSON

Compressor Controls Corporation

I
n a ‘normal’ gas compression
circuit, the fluid that is LP stage HP stage
compressed in the compres-
sor, flowing in the immediate 480 kPa 1500 kPa Condenser
upstream and downstream 45.0ºC
process lines and vessels, is all LP suction HP suction
drum drum
in a gaseous phase without any UIC
UIC
HP
change of state from liquid to LP

vapour or from vapour to Accumulator

Liquid
liquid. In this ‘normal’ gas propane
compression circuit, the Flash
150 kPa economiser
LC
compressor could experience −32.0ºC

surge-inducing events due to Chiller/

changes in the process condi- Evaporator
Process
tions downstream of the LC stream LC
compressor (for instance, 480 kPa
Pre-cooler
sudden increase in process +4.0ºC

resistance), due to changes in

the suction of the compressor
(such as changes to gas compo-
sition or inlet pressure and
temperature), or sudden
changes in the driver perfor-
mance (sudden drop in shaft
power or speed, for instance).
In the refrigeration circuit
however, there is a change of
state (from liquid to vapour)
that takes place immediately
upstream of the compressor in
the LP process chiller and
another change of state (from
vapour to liquid) almost imme-
diately downstream of the
compressor in the condenser.
Figure 1 This two-stage compressor fed by a process chiller requires two
anti-surge control loops
In a refrigeration circuit, the
process is ‘closed loop’ and the
gas composition does not
usually change. Also, the
change of state in the
condenser means that the
discharge resistance changes
very slowly (in fact seasonally)
with the changes in ambient
temperature around the
condenser. A possible cause of
compression surge can be due
to a drop in vapour available
for compression, which occurs
when the process load drops,
thus less vapour in the process
chiller is produced.
There is therefore a percep-
tion by process designers to
consider that any surge-induc-
ing events on a refrigeration
compressor are limited and
slow occurring and require
only simple and ‘low perform-
ing’ surge control technology.
This is not a correct perception
as it ignores the surge-inducing
events that could occur because

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001308 PTQ Q3 2016 1

 application, the temperature of
LP stage HP stage the propane gas at the
discharge of the compressor
480 kPa 1500 kPa Condenser may easily reach 130-140°C,
45.0ºC and if recycled back to the LP
LP suction HP suction stage suction drum, would be
drum drum
UIC
problematic on two levels:
LP
• First, the replacement of cold
Accumulator and denser vapour originating
Liquid
propane in the process chiller with hot
Flash
150 kPa economiser
recycle gas would initially
LC
−32.0ºC drive the operating point of the
Chiller/ LP stage further into surge
Evaporator
• Secondly, it would be just a
LC matter of time before the
480 kPa machine tripped on high LP
+4.0ºC stage inlet temperature.
Therefore, good design prac-
Figure 2 If a compressor stage is linked to a flash economiser only, an anti- tice dictates that the recycle gas
surge loop is not required be cooled to a temperature
approximating the vapour
of driver problems, which tend required. This is because the coming from the process
to be fast and sudden. flash economiser, unlike a chiller. A relatively straightfor-
Thus a refrigeration compres- process chiller, provides refrig- ward method of doing this is
sor requires the same erant vapour to the compressor to apply an evaporative cooling
high-performance and fast-act- stage in a manner that is not concept in the sense of releas-
ing surge control technology as dependent on process load ing an atomised fine spray of
‘normal’ gas compression changes. In other words, the liquid refrigerant into the hot
circuits. flash economiser circuit recycle gas stream downstream
provides continuous forward of the anti-surge valve. Since
Number of anti-surge control flow through it at all this almost instantaneously
loops operating conditions of the evaporates, it sufficiently cools
In general, each compressor compressor when it is running. the hot recycle gas stream. This
stage that supplied refrigerant This is illustrated in Figure 2. is typically achieved by install-
to a process chiller requires a ing a specially designed
dedicated anti-surge control The need to provide recycle gas atomising nozzle system into
loop (controller plus valve). cooling the recycle piping, downstream
In the example given in Method 1 – Quenching of the anti-surge valve. This is
Figure 1, where the LP process In refrigeration compressors, it illustrated in Figure 3.
chiller provides refrigerant is advisable to design the anti- When quenching is used as
vapour to the LP stage of the surge (recycle) piping so that it the method to cool the hot
compressor and the pre-cooler commences upstream of the recycle gas, it is not good
provides refrigerant vapour to discharge condenser. The design practice to simply
the HP stage of the compres- reason is straightforward. If modulate the quench valve
sor, two dedicated anti-surge recycle gas was taken from with a slow-acting temperature
control loops would be downstream of the condenser, controller. For example, if the
required. it would be, by definition, surge control system step-
On the other hand, if a mixed phase with mostly a opens the anti-surge valve,
compressor stage is linked to a liquid content and so would be providing a sudden increase of
flash economiser only, then a unsuitable for use as recycle hot refrigerant recycle gas, the
dedicated anti-surge loop for gas. much slower quench controller
that stage is generally not In a propane refrigeration would allow the recycle gas to

2 PTQ Q3 2016 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001308

be delivered too hot to the LP
LP stage HP stage
suction drum for an unaccept-
able amount of time.
1500 kPa Condenser
Dynamic decoupling
between the anti-surge control- 45.0ºC
LP suction HP suction
ler and the quench controller is drum drum
required so that when the anti- UIC
LP
surge valve opens by a
Accumulator
significant amount, the quench Quench nozzles TT Liquid
controller would also immedi- (See detail)
Liquid quench
propane
TIC
ately open the quench valve by 150 kPa
−32.0ºC
a suitable and proportionate Flash
amount and then allow the Chiller/ LC
economiser
Evaporator
slower temperature control
LC
response to determine the
Quench-nozzle
required final opening of the 480 kPa
detail
+4.0ºC
quench valve based on the
Hot
set-point. recycle gas
The quench controller’s
control action needs to be Liquid
refrigerant
further coordinated with the
anti-surge control system so
that when the anti-surge valve
is closed (or open up to a Figure 3 Evaporative cooling for recycle gas
configurable minimum open-
ing) the liquid quench valve is quench controllers actually Method 2 - Sparging
kept closed regardless of its calculate the temperature Recently, process designers
recycle gas temperature meas- set-point as being offset (or started to utilise the fact that
urement. Also, when the biased) slightly from the satu- there is a continuous supply of
compressor is stopped, the ration temperature as liquid refrigerant in the LP
liquid quench valve needs to expressed by the pressure-en- (and even the MP) suction
be forced closed. thalpy saturation curve drums. It is possible to intro-
Traditional quench control- characteristics for that particu- duce the hot recycle gas into
lers operated with a fixed lar refrigerant. the lower liquid containing
downstream recycle gas There are, however, consider- portion of the suction drum
temperature set-point. able limitations on the use of and design a sparging system
However, the actual saturation quenching that must be that allows the hot recycle gas
temperature of the vapour in considered. to bubble through the liquid
the LP suction drum If the compressor is operated inventory. This causes
mentioned above is a function ‘blocked-in’, that is isolated increased conversion of the
of its operating pressure. from the process chillers for liquid inventory into refriger-
Ideally, the temperature any length of time, the addition ant vapour and, since the
set-point of the quench of liquid quench into the neces- operating pressure of the drum
controller must be adjusted as sary recycle gas will simply does not change appreciably,
the operating pressure in the cause the total refrigerant the produced vapour tempera-
LP suction drum changes. Not inventory to accumulate and ture sent to the compressor
only that, it should typically build up in what is in practice inlet remains unchanged.
be calculated slightly higher a closed circuit. Hence the shaft The sparger needs to be
(but close to) the current satu- load of the compressor will rise designed to efficiently allow
ration temperature in the LP and possibly exceed the capac- the dispersion of the maximum
suction drum. ity of the driver, causing a amount of hot recycle gas as
The latest state-of-the-art compressor trip. small bubbles into the liquid

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001308 PTQ Q3 2016 3


LP stage
Sidestream
flow element
FT
UIC
LP
LP suction
drum
From LP From HP
chiller/evaporator pre-cooler chiller
Figure 4 In many cases, it is necessary to provide dedicated anti-surge control-
lers for each stage of the refrigeration compressor
inventory without causing the
back pressure onto the anti-
surge valve to build up. In
terms of sizing the anti-surge
valve and the design differen-
tial pressure across it, one must
consider the operating pressure
of the LP suction drum plus
the static pressure introduced
by the liquid level that must be
maintained as liquid inventory
in the drum. This method elim-
inates the need for quenching
and the associated control
complexity.
Calculating suction flow rate
in a multi-stage refrigeration
compressor
In many cases it is necessary to
provide dedicated anti-surge
controllers for each stage of the
refrigeration compressor. This
means that the suction flowrate
for each stage must be meas-
ured directly or inferred
accurately.
The problem arises with the
traditional design of these
multi-stage machines where a
4 PTQ Q3 2016
Compressor
HP stage
casing
Discharge
flow element Condenser
FT FT
??
To
UIC
accumulator
HP
HP suction
drum
single casing envelopes the
multiple stages with incoming
sidestream lines (or outgoing
extraction lines as the process
design dictates). This is illus-
trated in Figure 4.
As may be seen in Figure 4,
measuring the flow rate into the
LP stage of the compressor is
straightforward. However, for
the HP stage, it is a different
story. The flow element located
in the sidestream line does not
measure the total HP inlet flow
rate and the differential pres-
sure generated across that flow
element cannot be simply
added to the differential pres-
sure generated across the LP
incoming line flow element
because of the considerably
different pressures and temper-
atures experienced where these
two flow elements are located.
By the same reasoning, the
differential pressure generated
across the discharge flow
element, while directly repre-
senting the discharge flow rate
of the HP stage, is also operat-
ing at completely different
pressure and temperature
conditions compared to the
inlet of the HP stage. Therefore,
a properly designed surge
controller for the HP stage
must include dedicated HP
stage inlet flow rate inferential
algorithms that produce
adequately accurate results for
the whole range of compressor
operation.
Medhat Zaghloul is Regional Technology
Manager for the Europe, Middle East and
Africa Regions with Compressor Controls
Corporation (CCC), based in the Abu
Dhabi Office where he is responsible for
the development of technical solutions
and control applications and providing
technical guidance and support. He has
over 38 years of experience in the oil
and gas industry with 15 years specific
to instrumentation and controls for the
petrochemical industry. He holds a BSc
in electrical engineering from the Cairo
Institute of Technology in Egypt (now
Helwan University).
Wayne Jacobson is Global Technology
Manager for the Technology Group in
the Des Moines, IA, headquarters of
CCC where his responsibilities include
providing technical guidance and
support throughout the organisation,
development and improvement of
control applications, maintaining and
improving standard engineering design
and practices, and overseeing the overall
technical development of engineering
staff. He holds a BS in mechanical
engineering from the University of
Wisconsin, Platteville.
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