Advances in Dynamic Analysis for Hypercompressor Cylinder Valves

The life of valves is extremely important for the availability of hypercompressors in LDPE plants. Different factors such as high gas temperatures, early wear, the presence of polymers or loud noise, can give an indication of poor valve performance that could shorten their life. 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been extensively used to obtain an accurate evaluation of pressure losses, drag forces and flow coefficients at various operating conditions. CFD dimensionless flow field coefficients have been fed into 1D valve dynamics model simulations, resulting in a more accurate calculation, able to better predict the poppet position during valve opening and closing. The poppet motion can be correlated to critical performance factors and can be used to estimate valve life. Experimental validation will allow a fine tuning of this modified model for valve performance prediction, which can be used to design optimized valve geometries with improved reliability.