Issue 49/2013 - Compressor self-diagnosis technology to ensure the safety of North China gas transmission

Recently, relying on the Beijing Key Laboratory of Health Monitoring and Self-healing of High-end Machinery and Equipment built by Beijing University of Chemical Technology, an expert system for automatic fault diagnosis of reciprocating compressors has been developed, which provides an effective technical way
to solve the problem of fault diagnosis and early warning of large reciprocating compressor units.

The system was supervised and tested on a number of large combustion and drive reciprocating compressor units of Tianjin Dagang Branch of PetroChina Beijing Natural Gas Pipeline Co.
, Ltd.
, and a total of 6 major faults were found and avoided, the proportion of non-fault shutdown was reduced by 30%, and the early typical fault warning rate reached more than 90%, ensuring the safe and stable production of gas storage stations and ensuring the safe and stable supply
of natural gas in North China.

Reciprocating compressor units are the core equipment
for transporting natural gas.
Due to the high power, high speed, ultra-high pressure, complex structure and other reasons of the reciprocating compressor unit, a slight improper installation, operation, maintenance and other links will cause the unit to fail or stop, affecting the normal gas injection production
.
The vicious failure will also lead to damage to the unit components, and even major accidents such as explosion and fire, directly endangering the life safety of the on-site personnel, and in serious cases, it will affect or even stop the supply
of natural gas.
(Li Feng)