8/4/2019 Field Performance Testing for Centrifugal Compressors - Chemical Engineering | Page 1

PROCESSING & HANDLING PDF

FIELD PERFORMANCE TESTING FOR CENTRIFUGAL

COMPRESSORS
By Nathan Poerner, Tim Allison, Hector Delgado, Southwest Research Institute | April 1, 2019

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Determining the eld performance of centrifugal compressors can bene t operation and maintenance of the equipment. Presented here is an
overview of the parameters that must be measured and calculated for e ective testing

Compressors are used in all areas of production and in many di erent sectors of the chemical process industries (CPI). Production facilities can
have a number of compressors of di erent types and in a range of sizes. The three main compressor types are centrifugal, axial and reciprocating.
This article focuses on centrifugal compressors (Figure 1) and how eld performance testing can be carried out in this equipment class to bene t
the end-users, manufacturers and maintenance personnel. The bene ts of eld testing for existing units include the ability to quantify
performance deterioration as a function of equipment age, to determine if and when certain maintenance tasks should be performed, and to
identify speci c equipment components for product improvement. For new units, eld testing helps validate product performance.

Figure 1. Performance tests on a multi-stage centrifugal compressor, like the one shown here, will quantify the
factors of energy, head, work and ow

PERFORMANCE PRINCIPLES

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Regardless of compressor type, there are certain terms and parameters that will be used to de ne and quantify equipment performance. Primary
among these are energy, head, work and ow. Energy is a parameter of the uid in question, and will most commonly be de ned as the total
enthalpy of the uid. Enthalpy is a combination of the kinetic ( uid velocity) and potential (static pressure) energy of the uid. Because enthalpy is
a derived term, there is no direct way to measure the enthalpy of a uid. Instead, it is common practice to rely on equations of state (EOS) that
relate measurable parameters (most commonly temperature and pressure) to derived terms, such as enthalpy and entropy, for a given uid
composition. A variety of EOS are available, and each will be best applicable for only a given set of uid compositions over a speci c range of
operating conditions. Because of this, it is important that all parties involved in a performance test understand and accept the chosen EOS.

Head is a measure of the increase of energy within a uid, and is typically de ned as the change in enthalpy of the uid between the suction and
discharge conditions. Work is the mechanical means of transferring energy into the uid.

Flow can be de ned in terms of mass or volume, with volume taking one of two common forms. The rst is the capacity, or actual ow, which
considers the volume ow for the actual pressure and temperature of the uid, usually at inlet conditions. The second is referred to as standard, or
normal, ow, and calculates the volume ow for the given mass ow at a “standard” condition. For example, this could be a temperature of 60°F
and pressure equal to 14.7 psia. For either volume ow term, the mass ow would be identical.

MEASUREMENTS AND CALCULATIONS

The data gathered to determine performance include temperatures, pressures, ow and gas composition. Temperatures and pressures are
relatively straightforward to collect using a variety of available sensors. However, ow can be a bit more complex to determine. Such
measurements often rely on additional measurements, but there are still a number of sensor options available. Gas composition is probably the
least accessible data to obtain, either requiring an online gas chromatograph (rarely available in most installations), or sampling of the uid for
analysis by a laboratory after the testing.

In addition to these base measurements, some common performance parameters that will be generated include the work, head and e ciency.
Work and head, discussed earlier, lead to the de nition of e ciency, which can be de ned in many di erent ways.

First, there is the thermodynamic e ciency that only involves the actual compression process, and relates the actual head to an ideal head. The
ideal head can also be de ned in multiple ways; the two most common are isentropic and polytropic. It is critical to understand which of these two
de nitions is being used in a given case. Isentropic e ciency calculations assume that the thermodynamic process is adiabatic, and compares the
actual head to the ideal head, with entropy at the suction and discharge assumed to be the same.

Polytropic e ciency compares the actual head to the head conceptually calculated by breaking the entire compression step into a number of
smaller steps, with some heat added at each step. The two processes converge at low pressure ratios, yielding identical results. One bene t of using
polytropic e ciency is that for multistage machines, if all stages have the same polytropic e ciency, then the entire machine polytropic e ciency
is equal to the stage polytropic e ciency. Overall machine isentropic e ciency in this case will be lower than the stage isentropic e ciency.

Another way that e ciency can be de ned is the mechanical e ciency of the compressor. This usually involves additional measurements to
evaluate the mechanical work going into the compressor, usually through the use of a torque-meter. This allows calculation of the compressor
e ciency as the actual head compared to the mechanical work going into the compressor.

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