Key things to look out for Centrifugal Compressor Selection
Key things to look out for Centrifugal Compressor Selection
(OP)
Hello Gents,
Considering the senerio of being a project engineer on rotating machinery. What are the key things one should look out for during selection of centrifugal compressors. To name a few that I think critical are...
* The range of operation would be quite critical. Selecting a compressor based on a set of few operating points.
* Number of stages would be important too because the bearing span should be kept to a minium for a given speed to keep the critical speeds at a higher range and avoid dropping the criticals to lower speed.
*) Mach number and tip velocities at the blade should also be addressed and preferebly kept below a certain number (i.e Mach 0.95 and tip velocities below say 270m/s
* polytropic head per stage should be limited to a certain value
* Gas temperature should be below a certain value to avoid thermal issues....
What other key critical things should be looked into for compressor selection standpoint. Perhaps rotordynamic stability is important....
Thanks
Considering the senerio of being a project engineer on rotating machinery. What are the key things one should look out for during selection of centrifugal compressors. To name a few that I think critical are...
* The range of operation would be quite critical. Selecting a compressor based on a set of few operating points.
* Number of stages would be important too because the bearing span should be kept to a minium for a given speed to keep the critical speeds at a higher range and avoid dropping the criticals to lower speed.
*) Mach number and tip velocities at the blade should also be addressed and preferebly kept below a certain number (i.e Mach 0.95 and tip velocities below say 270m/s
* polytropic head per stage should be limited to a certain value
* Gas temperature should be below a certain value to avoid thermal issues....
What other key critical things should be looked into for compressor selection standpoint. Perhaps rotordynamic stability is important....
Thanks





RE: Key things to look out for Centrifugal Compressor Selection
there are more factors to consider and evaluate than mentioned. the lack of data supplied by you leads one to conclude that you need the help.
good luck!
-pmover
RE: Key things to look out for Centrifugal Compressor Selection
And it makes a huge difference how deep you want to delve in to the "design" aspects of the machinery, depending on if you're the end-user, packager, or the manufacturer, which are you?
RE: Key things to look out for Centrifugal Compressor Selection
trying to fill out the first couple pages of the API-617 data sheet will give you a good idea of what you need to know about your process to help compressor OEM's properly size the equipment. in addition, you need to have a thorough understanding of what other types of equipment are needed on the compressor such as: what type of instruments, how many valves do you want supplied by the OEM, how much piping do you want the OEM to handle, how many coolers do you want the OEM to supply (all of them or only the intercoolers), how much redundancy do you want in your equipment and instruments?, do you want the OEM to include a control system or is your company doing that?, where is the location of the control room and do you want local control or only remote control of the equipment, and on and on.
take care,
John
RE: Key things to look out for Centrifugal Compressor Selection
Also, check the energy efficiency of the compressors, this will greatly impact the life cycle cost of running the compressor.
RE: Key things to look out for Centrifugal Compressor Selection