We’ve progressed through the components of a centrifugal compressor.  While the goal is to supply the plant with oil free compressed air, the ideal conditions of supply and demand rarely, if ever, match up.  Meaning the plant use is never matched with the exact output of the compressor.

For that reason a controller is implemented to match the output of the compressor with the needs of the plant.  The controller is responsible for monitoring all of the instrumentation on the compressor such as vibration probes, oil pressure, oil temperature, air temperature both entering the compressor as well as the temperature at the different stages.  This is to assure proper cooling is taking place in the intercoolers.  The controller also typically monitors the pressures at the discharge of each stage to assure the unit is operating at the design point and also measures the motor current.

Turndown

Another important term to understand in the centrifugal compressor world is turndown.  Basically, turndown is the operating range of the compressor between the lines of surge and choke.

 

This gives the end user an understanding of the operating range of the compressor which assists in understanding the efficiency of the unit.  Since the requirements of the plant rarely match the exact output of the compressor we need to know how much the compressors can effectively throttle back to match the plant air requirements.

Control Mode

The controller may normally be set up to control in several different scenario’s.

Constant Pressure:

Constant pressure control is frequently used when system air pressure must be held steady at a specific value or in processes where swings in system pressure is not acceptable.  The inlet valve is modulated to meet the system pressure set point while holding motor current within the Max/Min set points.  In a case of low demand, the compressor will throttle back to the surge control set point.  If demand continues to fall below these set points, the discharge (blowoff) valve will open (modulating if capable) to bypass enough flow to keep the compressor from reaching a surge condition.

Constant Flow

Constant flow control provides a constant flow delivered from the compressor to the system in special applications and works much the way constant pressure controls work.

Auto Dual

Auto Dual control provides efficient compressor operations where some pressure swings are acceptable to the plant.  In Auto Dual mode the compressor controls operate the same as constant pressure until the compressor throttles back to surge control set point.  If demand falls below the throttled condition the controller will unload the compressor.  If the plant requirements increase the compressor will reload to supply air to the plant.  On some models, if the demand remains below this threshold for a set period of time the compressor can be programmed to shutdown and auto restart when system demand requirements rise.

Efficiency Note

The controller for the compressor has a primary function of assuring the compressor meets the demand of the plant air system requirements.  Secondarily, the controller should operate the compressor at peak efficiency in order to keep electrical operating cost to a minimum.  Any time the discharge (blowoff) valve is open, expensive compressed air is being blown off to the atmosphere.  After paying to compressor the air, blowing it to atmosphere is a tremendous waste of resources. 

While most manufacturers offer a variety of interconnected local controllers, Most of these controllers simply do not have the computational power to fully utilize the compressor at peak efficiency.  Regardless of control methods, sophisticated algorithms in central control systems offer faster monitoring & control while utilizing more sophisticated programs.  An example would be where the master controller monitors the rate the system pressure falls to determine the likely time expectancy that the unit will need to reload.

For maximum efficiency it is always recommended to hire a professional compressed air auditing group that maintain engineering personnel dedicated to control systems.