The main purpose of this master’s thesis is description of the current technology of compressed air production in the grounds of Třinecké Železárny, a.s. (TZ). Compressed air for companies in the TZ area is manufactured and distributed by company Energetika Třinec, a.s. (ET). The part of the thesis is the preparation and execution of measurement including evaluation of specific energy consumption for production of compressed air by compressors of ET company. In conclusion there is proposed the possibility of substitution of compressors including the economic evaluation.

Le comportement dynamique des turbomachines industrielles doit respecter des critères émis par les normes internationales et les utilisateurs. Les rotors flexibles sont sensibles à la distribution de balourd, et sont soumis aux excitations aérodynamiques de leur environnement. Usuellement, les contrôleurs utilisés peinent à délivrer le niveau d’exigence demandé, par conséquent les propriétés mécaniques des paliers magnétiques sont fortement dépendantes de celles des rotors. L’objectif de ce mémoire est d’analyser le comportement dynamique des compresseurs centrifuges afin de proposer une stratégie de contrôle innovante. D’abord, chaque palier est considéré comme une entité a part entière en couplant ses deux axes d’action. Le comportement dynamique du rotor est exprimé dans le repère polaire. Par ailleurs, la logique floue, qui utilise un modèle de pensée proche du raisonnement humain, applique des actions correctives en fonction du comportement dynamique global du rotor. Ainsi, l’utilisation couplée de ces deux approches créé une synergie permettant d’agir sur le système de manière ciblée. Le contrôleur dissipe l’énergie cinétique du rotor lors du franchissement de vitesses critiques afin d’atténuer la réponse au balourd, ou augmente la raideur du palier lors de vibrations transitoires ou asynchrones afin de réduire la trajectoire du rotor. Le faible amortissement structurel du rotor le rend sensible au phénomène de « spillover » (l’énergie de contrôle affecte les modes de fréquence élevée). Or, la logique floue ne peut pas gérer ce phénomène. Ainsi, un contrôleur PID sous-jacent est utilisé pour maîtriser la stabilité des modes hautes fréquences. Au final, le contrôleur flou polaire permet d’obtenir des marges de performances entre les capacités de cet asservissement et le cahier des charges. Ces marges sont utilisées pour trois objectifs : le respect des spécifications, l’amélioration du comportement subsynchrone, et enfin la simplification et la standardisation du contrôleur sous-jacent nommé ici SPID. Ce contrôleur est tel que ses caractéristiques, dans la plage de fréquence utile, sont indépendantes du rotor pour une application donnée. Enfin, la stratégie développée est évaluée avec des simulations numériques et des essais expérimentaux. D’abord, le modèle numérique est validé, puis le contrôleur est appliqué à un banc d’essais académique. Le comportement est stable et robuste. Il présente des performances supérieures au PID augmenté fourni avec le banc, que ce soit pour la réponse au balourd, ou pour la réponse à des excitations subsynchrones. Finalement, la démarche est appliquée à un compresseur industriel. Les simulations montrent que le comportement est proche de celui exigé pour des machines sur paliers classiques. L’optimisation de l’approche et l’automatisation de la conception pourraient conduire à la standardisation des paliers magnétiques actifs. / The dynamic behaviour of large turbomachinery should satisfy stringent requirements dictated by international standards and final users. Their flexible rotor is sensitive to the unbalance distribution and subjected to particular excitations coming from the industrial process. Usually, the performance margins between the requirements and the classical controller capabilities are small. Consequently, the magnetic bearing characteristics depend on the rotor geometry. Designing such controllers is difficult and time consuming. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the dynamic behaviour of supercritical centrifugal compressors in order to propose a new control strategy. First, each bearing is considered as one entity by coupling its two axes of action. The introduction of polar quantities permits a better observation of the rotor dynamic behaviour. In addition, by using logic close to human being reasoning, the fuzzy logic modulates the action forces as a function of the global dynamic behaviour. The coupling of the two approaches is an efficient way to apply targeted corrective actions. This controller attenuates the unbalance vibration when crossing critical speeds by applying damping forces, or increases the stiffness during transient or asynchronous excitations in order to limit the maximum displacement reached. As their structural damping is low, flexible rotors are very sensitive to spillover effect, which cannot be managed by fuzzy controllers. Consequently, an underlying PID is necessary. This hand-synthesized controller has high frequency characteristics tuned in order to ensure stability and robustness for each rotor. Compared to a classical approach, the polar fuzzy controller enables to increase the performance margins. These margins are used to fulfil three objectives: the achievement of standards requirements, the improvement of the subsynchronous behaviour, and the simplification and the standardization of the PID controller that we called SPID. This SPID is designed for a given application, such that the bearing characteristics on the operating frequency range are always the same. The control strategy is assessed numerically and experimentally. First, the numerical model is validated with experimental tests. Then, the controller developed is applied to an academic test rig. The controller is stable and robust. It exhibits performance superior to the augmented PID supplied with the test rig for both unbalance response and response to subsynchronous excitations. Finally, the control of an industrial compressor is assessed numerically. The results obtained are close to the standards requirements used for classical bearings. The optimization of the approach and the utilization of an automatic tuning algorithm for high frequency characteristics could lead to the standardization of Active Magnetic Bearings.

<p>The objective of this research was to develop stability enhancing design features for aeroengine centrifugal compressors. The motivation for this research is based on climate change and fuel-efficiency concerns, which call for improvements in achievable pressure ratios and surge margins. Specifically, this research aimed to develop diffuser recirculation channels and provide more insight into their design space. These channels are passive casing treatments in the diffuser and have been successfully demonstrated to improve stage surge margin. Diffuser recirculation channels are secondary flow paths that connect an opening near the diffuser inlet to one further down in the passage. Flow is recirculated by relieving the static pressure differential between the two openings. The basic design concept of these features is to add blockage upstream of the diffuser inlet, reducing the amount of diffusion in the vaneless space. In addition, channel geometries can be optimized to specifically target adverse flow properties, such as high incidence on the diffuser vane leading edge.</p> <p><br></p> <p>This design development was purely computational and served as the first approach to implementation of these features in a future generation of the Centrifugal Stage for Aerodynamic Research (CSTAR) at the Purdue Compressor Research Lab. Design development consisted of a computational design study, which quantified the effects of changing diffuser recirculation channel geometries on stage stability and performance metrics. Moreover, the CFD model for this future configuration of CSTAR was created and served as the baseline comparison for design iterations. The design study was comprised of controlled variation of channel geometry parameters and iterative solving of those cases in unsteady full stage single passage CFD models. Further design optimization studies were completed on specific down-selected recirculation channel geometry configurations. In total, 16 unsteady CFD cases with varied geometry configurations and 43 steady models were solved. Once a final optimized design was confirmed, a pressure characteristic at 100 % corrected design speed was generated. Compared to the baseline speed line, the implementation of diffuser recirculation channels resulted in a more gradual numerical surge and apparent numerical surge margin enhancement. Furthermore, the variation in incidence at the diffuser vane leading edge near the shroud was significantly reduced with diffuser recirculation. For the baseline compressor, incidence grew by about 70 degrees from the design aerodynamic loading to numerical surge at that location. However, flow stabilization due to diffuser 16 recirculation resulted in a change of approximately 2 degrees through that range. In conclusion, a first approach design recommendation for diffuser recirculation channels is CSTAR was generated through computational studies. Using this recommendation, diffusers with this recirculation channel design can be manufactured and tested for experimental concept validation.  </p>