Control of compression system with independently actuated inlet guide and/or stator vanes
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorKarl Dean Minto
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A compression system includes a compressor with adjustable inlet guide vanes (IGVs) and variable stator vanes (VSVs) that are adjustable independently of each other. IGV and VSV control units produce respective IGV and VSV reference commands responsive to respective first and second inputs that may be responsive to measured properties of the compression system. The second input may be provided by a model of the compressor or of the compression system responsive to measured properties. The second input may particularly be an estimate of a property not directly observable, such as stall margin or efficiency.
Claims22
A compression system comprising:
- a compressor;
- at least one adjustable inlet guide vane (IGV);
- at least one variable stator vane (VSV) downstream from the at least one IGV, the at least one VSV being adjustable independently of the at least one IGV and the at least one IGV being adjustable independently of the at least one VSV;
- a compression control system including a controller, the controller including an IGV control unit and a VSV control unit;
- at least a first device configured to communicate with the compression control system and to provide at least a first compressor property value to the compression control system;
- at least a second device configured to communicate with the compression control system and to provide at least a second compressor property value to the compression control system;
- responsive to at least one of the first and second devices, an IGV position reference command produced by the IGV control unit;
- responsive to at least one of the first and second devices, a VSV position reference command produced by the VSV control unit;
- and
- a guide vane positioning system configured to communicate with the controller to produce, responsive to at least the IGV position reference command, an IGV position command, and to produce, responsive to at least the VSV position reference command, a VSV position command.
A compression system control method, the compression system including a compressor, a guide vane positioning system, at least one adjustable inlet guide vane (IGV) responsive to the guide vane positioning system, and at least one variable stator vane (VSV) responsive to the guide vane positioning system, the method comprising:
- providing an IGV control unit configured to communicate with at least a first device and to receive at least a first compressor property value therefrom;
- producing with the IGV control unit, responsive to at least the first compressor property value, an IGV position reference command and sending the IGV position reference command to the guide vane positioning system;
- providing a VSV control unit configured to communicate with at least a second device and to receive at least a second compressor property value therefrom;
- and
- producing with the VSV control unit, responsive to at least the second compressor property value, a VSV position reference command and sending the VSV position reference command to the guide vane positioning system.
A computer product for controlling a compression system, the compression system including at least one compressor, at least one adjustable inlet guide vane (IGV), at least one variable stator vane (VSV), and at least one guide vane positioning system with at least one IGV positioning system configured to change a respective position of the at least one IGV and at least one VSV positioning system configured to change a respective position of the at least one VSV, the computer product comprising instructions in the form of computer executable program code stored on a computer readable storage medium and including:
- program code for using an IGV control unit to produce an IGV reference command responsive to at least a first device configured to provide a first compressor property value;
- program code for using a VSV control unit to produce a VSV reference command responsive to at least a second device configured to provide a second compressor property value;
- program code for producing an IGV position command responsive to the IGV reference command and for sending the IGV position command to the at least one IGV positioning system;
- and
- program code for producing a VSV position command responsive to the VSV reference command and for sending the VSV position command to the at least one VSV positioning system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.