Limits and Trade-Off in the Control of Compressor Surge

The present paper deals with several problems arising in the stabilisation of surge in compression systems. From a theoretical standpoint the system requires a high gain type controller to be stabilised. On the other hand, the real system is affected by persistent measurement noise whose negative effect on stability is strongly amplified by the high gain. Therefore, a suitable filtering of the system output is necessarily required. The bandwidth of the filter is subject to opposite constraints: if it is too large it affects the attenuation property; if it is too narrow, the large phase-lag introduced at low frequencies may compromise the system stabilisation, which requires a fast actuator reaction. This paper analyses all these aspects concurring in the stabilisation problem and the consequent trade-off in the control design. The results of experimental and numerical studies are provided with reference to the active control of surge in a multi-stage centrifugal compressor.