Active control of pressure oscillations has been successfully applied to a lean premixed prevaporized (LPP) combustion rig operating at atmospheric conditions. The design of the rig is based on the primary stage of the Rolls-Royce RB211-DLE industrial gas turbine. Control was achieved by modulating the fuel flow rate in response to a measured pressure signal. The feedback control is an adaptive, model-based self-tuning regulator (STR), which only requires the total time delay between actuation and response to achieve control. The STR algorithm achieves a reduction of up to 30 dB on the primary instability frequency. This performance was an improvement of 5–15 dB over an empirical control strategy (simple time-delay controller) specifically tuned to the same operating point. Initial robustness studies have shown that the STR retains control for a 20% change in frequency and a 23% change in air mass flow rate.

Issue Section:
Gas Turbines: Combustion and Fuels
Keywords:
gas turbines, closed loop systems, self-adjusting systems, combustion, robust control, adaptive control
Topics:
Combustion, Combustion chambers, Control equipment, Delays, Flow (Dynamics), Fuels, Oscillations, Pressure, Valves, Time delay systems, Robustness, Turbines, Transfer functions, Algorithms
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