METHOD TO AVOID INSTABLE SURGE CONDITIONS WITH CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSORS AND CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSORS PROVIDED WITH MEANS FOR AUTOMATICALLY APPLYING SUCH A METHOD

摘要

A method for avoiding an unstable working condition in centrifugal compressors (1), which unstable working condition is better known under the term 'surge' or 'surging' condition, characterised in that it consists in measuring and/or calculating the forces on the bearings (10,11) of the rotor; in detecting timely an exceptional imbalance of radial forces on the bearings (10,11), which occurs before the centrifugal compressor (1) ends up in an unstable condition; and, when the above-mentioned exceptional radial imbalance has been detected, in changing the operational parameters of the centrifugal compressor (1) so as to avoid 'surge'.