Development of an anti-surge protection system for gas pumping units based on hardware and software vibration monitoring tools

This study’s object is the non-stationary process of gas flow stall in the compressor of a gas pumping unit (GPU), accompanied by surge oscillations. The task relates to the need for a comprehensive approach to the design and operation of anti-surge protection systems based on improved procedures, algorithms, and unified hardware and software solutions. A procedure has been devised for predicting surge oscillations during the sequential operation of two compressor stations. Its distinctive feature is the processing of data on the dynamics of technological parameters of an actual facility under pre-surge and surge modes to construct a corrected extrapolation model. The method ensures an acceptable prediction error with a root mean square deviation of 10–15%. An anti-surge protection system for GPU with forecasting functionality has been designed, based on offset and vibration displacement parameters of the compressor’s rear bearing support in vertical and horizontal directions. Hardware and software solutions were implemented using a PLC S7-1200, SM 1281 vibration module, as well as CMS2000 VIB-SENSOR. The system enables monitoring of rear bearing support vibration displacement in the range from 0 to 80 μm, with an «optimal» operating point of 40 μm. The permissible monitoring distance to the control object is up to 30 m without loss of vibration signal quality. A dispatcher interface has been designed with functions for visualization, archiving, alarm signaling about technological parameters, and calculating the predicted moment of GPU surge onset. A subsystem for controlling the station’s anti-surge valve has been designed, with status indication, based on the developed FB1 «Program» algorithm with the vibration state parameters at the facility