EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL-ANALYSIS OF ACTIVE SUPPRESSION OF CENTRIFUGAL-COMPRESSOR SURGE BY SUCTION-SIDE VALVE CONTROL

We conducted a series of experiments in order to investigate the feasi bility of active surge suppression in life-size industrial machines. T he diameter of the impeller used in these experiments was 250 mm. Thes e experiments were performed with closed-loop and open-loop compressor systems with a control valve on the suction pipe, both of which diffe red from Epstein's model. Active surge suppression was possible in bot h compressor systems. The action of the control valve was observed to suppress flow fluctuations from the dynamically unstable equilibrium p oint at every instant. We also numerically analysed the open-loop case . The action of the control valve was modeled by on-off throttle contr ol and the compressor system was analyzed numerically using a lumped p arameter model. This numerical analysis successfully reproduced the be havior of active surge suppression.