William C. Maier

Demonstration Of The Rotordynamic Effects Of Centrifugal Liquid Separation And Gas Compression In An Oil-Free Integrated Motor-Compressor

The application of oil-free-integrated motor-compressors has become increasingly popular in recent years. One of the significant features of this class of machinery is compactness, providing space-savings compared to traditional-oil-lubricated compressors with associated gearboxes and lubrication systems. The integration of a turbo separator with such a compressor has resulted in the creation of a new class of turbomachinery promising even greater system compactness. This new machine type provides further size reduction benefits through the elimination of large static separation vessels often required on traditional compressor trains. A compressor manufacturer has successfully developed a centrifugal compressor with integrated turbo separator from design, development, and prototype testing on a demonstration rig through to manufacture, testing, and shipment of a production unit. This paper focuses on the details and results of the testing performed at the manufacturer’s factory that confirmed the soundness and acceptability of the design. Rigorous testing of the demonstration rig has confirmed acceptable rotordynamic performance including stable operation over a wide range of operating pressures and liquid injection rates. The rotordynamic performance of this machinery type has been demonstrated to be virtually insensitive to liquid injection.

TESTING OF GAS-LIQUID CENTRIFUGAL SEPARATION AND COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY AT DEMANDING OPERATING CONDITIONS

William Maier is a Principal Development Engineer with Dresser-Rand Company based in Olean, New York. He has been with the company since 1980. His latest activities are centered on advanced subsea compression and separation systems. Mr. Maier has co-authored and presented papers at numerous technical conferences including SYMCOM, ASME IGTI, and TAMU Turbo-Symposium and currently holds thirty six US Utility Patents. He received a B.Sc. degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Mechanical Engineering in 1981. He is a member of ASME, ΤΒΠ, and ΦΚΦ. Yuri Biba is a Staff Aero Performance Engineer with Dresser-Rand Company, in Olean, New York. He has been with the company since 1992, involved in turbocompressor selections, revamps and testing, focusing on aerodynamic design, analysis, performance prediction, and optimization of centrifugal compressor components. Dr. Biba received his M.Sc. degree in Aeronautical Engineering (with Honors, 1984) and Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering (1987) from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, Russia. He has authored, presented and published technical papers on the subject of turbomachinery aerodynamics and is a member of ASME. José L. Gilarranz R. joined Dresser-Rand in 2002 and is currently the Manager for Technology Development and Commercialization of the DATUM ICS and Subsea Product lines within Dresser-Rand in Houston, Texas. Dr. Gilarranz actively participates in new project development and serves as the main technical and commercial contact between Dresser-Rand and its clients in the area of compact compression systems. Previously, Dr. Gilarranz was a Senior Aero/Thermo Engineer and was heavily involved in the design, specification and use of advanced instrumentation for development testing. He has also been engaged in shop and on-site testing of centrifugal compression packages for both dry and wet gas applications. Prior to joining Dresser-Rand, Dr. Gilarranz worked as a rotating Equipment Engineer for Lagoven S. A. (now Petróleos de Venezuela-PDVSA) where his primary responsibility was performance evaluation and prediction for compression packages utilized by Lagoven in Lake Maracaibo. Dr. Gilarranz received a B. the area of experimental fluid mechanics from Texas A&M University. He is a member of ASME, AIAA, and . Daniel DeMore is a Staff Aero Design Engineer with Dresser-Rand Company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Since joining the company in 2010 he has been involved in the aerodynamic design of single and multiphase centrifugal compression system components. He has over 17 years of experience in radial turbomachinery aerodynamics in the gas turbine, air separation, and oil and gas industries. Mr. …

Actuation and Control of a Moveable Geometry System for a Full-Scale, Multi-Stage Centrifugal Compressor Test Vehicle

In recent years, several papers have been written regarding the use of moveable geometry systems to enable the rotation of otherwise stationary vanes used in centrifugal compressor research test vehicles. These systems typically are installed in single stage rigs or are placed at the inlet of the first stage of multi-stage centrifugal compressor test vehicles. This paper describes the capabilities of a state-of-the-art test vehicle that was developed by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) as a result of the OEM’s ongoing Research and Development Program aimed towards the implementation of novel and advanced technologies during the development of high-performance centrifugal compressors. The test vehicle is equipped with a variety of internal instrumentation that allow the collection of detailed aero/thermodynamic inter-stage performance data that is used to evaluate the behavior of the machine. The design of the unit also incorporates moveable vanes at the inlet guides upstream of each impeller, at each diffuser inlet and at the inlet of each return channel. The moveable geometry components allow infinite tuning of these components in a multistage environment, which allows the optimization of the aerodynamic performance of the stages based on design and/or off-design operating requirements of the process. The variable geometry system also allows the vanes to be positioned in such a way as to maximize the operating range of the compressor. The incorporation of adjustable vanes into the test vehicle allowed the OEM to significantly reduce the test cycle time, while maximizing the test data that was obtained from a single build. The positioning of the moveable vanes is controlled by a PC-based system that has been integrated into the OEM’s data acquisition system. This paper presents the work executed during the specification, design and implementation of the moveable geometry control system that was developed for the test vehicle. It covers topics such as the selection of the actuators and control hardware, as well as the integration of the actuators with the moveable vanes and other test unit components. Also discussed are the specification and development of the control software and the techniques, hardware and procedures used for the calibration of the moveable geometry system. The calibration was required to accurately determine the transfer function between the actuator movement and the actual rotation of the vanes. The paper also discusses the use of 5-hole pressure probes during the actual test to measure the flow direction upstream of the moveable vanes and how this information was used to achieve the test objectives. Finally, sample test data is presented to illustrate the impact that the moveable geometry system had over the performance of the compressor stages.Copyright

Computational and Analytical Study of Multiphase Rotary Separator Turbine Liquid Outlet

Gas-liquid separation is typically performed in settling tanks using gravitational force, or in cyclones generating higher centrifugal forces by swirl generators. However, in some applications such as offshore platforms or subsea compression stations, further compactness of the separating units is important. The Rotary Separator Turbine, a special type of cyclonic separator, generates even higher centrifugal forces, which allows the design of very compact separators. Due to the complexity of the flow fields in this type of machine, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analyses were used in the recent design of such a rotary separator. Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved for multiphase turbulent flows in multiple frames of reference. This paper describes basic functionality of the RST and concentrates on one particular analysis of the lip discharge geometry. In addition to the numerical study, an analytical model is presented for this particular flow.Copyright