To protect a compressor from surge, it is necessary to accurately calculate the location of the interface between stable operation and surge. Describing the Surge Limit Interface in certain coordinate systems results in a surface which is invariant to compressor suction conditions such as temperature and molecular weight. We refer to these coordinates as invariant coordinates. We explore these invariant coordinate systems and some nearly invariant systems useful for antisurge control. Some of them are commonly used in the industry, others are quite novel. This work serves to point out the unifying basis of them all.
The applications for these methods are mainly industrial compressors. Varying molecular weight represents the main challenge since a real-time measurement for this parameter is unavailable.
We present compressor maps constructed from test data in these coordinates. The validity of this approach is well supported by these data.
