TRI-SEN.

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Hydrogen Recycle Compressor performance and anti-surge control
in Honeywell C300-20
Solution Summary:
Since the beginning of our alliance with Elliott Group, Tri-Sen has been asked to provide Elliott and their
customers with turbomachiney controls solutions on various PLC platforms.
In cooperation with Elliott Group, Tri-Sen was asked to deliver a performance and anti-surge control
solution using a Honeywell C300-20ms controller that could be integrated into the End User’s DCS. To
accomplish this, Tri-Sen performance and anti-surge control algorithms were “ported” over from
IEC61131 based structured text to Honeywell custom application and data blocks.
The turbomachinery train includes an induction motor and gearbox driving an Elliott 25MB7
compressor. The compressor delivers hydrogen recycle gas to a hydrotreating process.
The controls include:

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• Recycle gas flow control
• Motor current limiting

Application Advisory No. 1707-01

• Single stage surge protection
The solution also includes the Tri-Sen Process Demand Scheduler (PDS) to help ensure process
stability and improve compressor turndown
In addition to standard project documentation (e.g. wiring and mechanical drawings, control system
narrative, I/O database assignment, testing procedures etc.) project deliverables also included:
• Supplying the controls in Honeywell custom application blocks (CABs) and custom data blocks
(CDBs)
• Project team collaboration using the Basecamp collaboration tool
• Dynamic simulation (OPC connection to process model for closed loop testing)
• Dynamic simulator hardwired to C300-20 for customer witnessed testing.

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Honeywell screen capture -Tri-Sen performance and anti-surge control-

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Application Advisory No. 1707-01
Process Performance Control:
For this application the primary function of the performance controller is to keep the compressor running
to achieve a specified flow into the reactor feed. Average motor current is used as an override (low
selected with the flow controller output) to prevent the motor from tripping on over current.
The output of the performance controller is passed through the process demand scheduler. During normal
operation the compressor discharge flow is controlled by modulating the compressor suction throttling
valve. During process upsets and operation with low flows the process demand scheduler allows the
performance controller to control the discharge flow by manipulating the spillback valve. This is required
to prevent the performance controller from interacting with the anti-surge controller and it allows for a high
turndown to meet low process demands.
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Process Demand Scheduler (PDS):
The Process Demand Scheduler (PDS) is a standard feature that is included with our compressor control
systems that are also managing process performance. The PDS function provides a coordinated means
of using the anti-surge valve along with another process control function (speed, suction throttle valve)
to manage the process. The PDS prevents the anti-surge controller from interacting with the process
controller, expands the control range of the process controller and uses the anti-surge recycle valve to
absorb significant process load disturbances.
Primarily the two control “handles” used are the performance variable of the compressor (suction throttle
in this case) and the anti-surge valve. The related process variable is most often the PV of the surge
controller.
When the suction throttling valve is in manual, the PDS is disabled. The demand input to the PDS
is indicated below by the vertical green line @ 60%. The process handle output is generated by the

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intersection of the demand input and the Process Handle line (blue line below). The Anti-Surge Valve
output is generated by the intersection of the demand input and the Anti-Surge Valve line (red line below).

Application Advisory No. 1707-01

Process Demand Scheduler (PDS) - Honeywell Block:

Process Demand Scheduler (PDS)- X, YS, YP Plot:

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Anti-Surge Control:
The primary function of the anti-surge
control is to prevent the compressor
from operating in an unstable
surge region (left of the surge line).
Continued operation in a surge region
can result in process disruption and
compressor mechanical failure. Anti-
surge control prevents surge from
occurring by maintaining a minimum
flow rate through the compressor.

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In this application this minimum flow
rate is assured by modulating a
“spillback” (recycle) valve. This valve

Application Advisory No. 1707-01

“spillbacks” (recycles) gas back to the
compressor suction.

The Tri-Sen anti-surge solution includes:

• Surge cycle detection
• Self-adjusting surge curve algorithm that automatically adjusts the surge line if a surge event is
detected when the process is operating to the right of the original surge line (red line on surge
map)
• Automatic recalculation of control line (green line) whenever the operating point moves to the left
of the control line
• Anti-Surge PID controller with adaptive gain The controller gain term is adjusted based on where
the operating point is in relation to the control line (green line on surge map)
• Manual control of the spillback valve
• Surge Assist: an algorithm that ensures the spillback valve is opened independently of the anti-
sure PID when the operating point is to the left of the control line by increasing the output to the
anti-surge control valve exponentially as the operating point moves closer to the surge line.
• “Decoupled” interaction with the performance controller through the PDS

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Simulation:
To ensure a smooth application software development cycle, Tri-Sen built a first-principles-dynamic-
simulation model of the End User’s Hydrotreater hydrogen recycle loop. During the application software
development, the simulation software was loaded onto a Honeywell server and communicated with the
C300-20 CAB functions via a Matrikon OPC server.
In order to minimize field commissioning time, the simulation software was loaded into Tri-Sen’s TSx
PLC which was hard-wired to the C300-20 for the factory acceptance test. This allowed the project
team to evalutate the application hardware and software from screw-to-screw dynamically, and set
meaningful process tuning constants before actually arriving on site.

First Principles Dynamic Simulation Model-

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Application Advisory No. 1707-01
C300-20 Performance:
The following data “snapshot” was taken after the system had been commissioned and running for
six months.
• CPU Free = 46%
• Max CPU used per Cycle ≈ 77.9%
• Memory used = 327kb of 14852kb

Observations:and recommendations:
For this application, the Honeywell C300-20 performance was perfectly acceptable. Given the
scalability of the C300 architecture we don’t see any performance-based reasons that the C300-20
could not be used for many if not most “compressor control” applications.

Our primary recommendation / concern with the C300-20 is related to surge line validation. Typically
we use high speed trending (20-40ms resolution or better) to validate the surge line. The typical
update of the Experion trend package is measured in seconds. There are solutions to work around
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this limitation and these should be considered prior to commissioning the controls.
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About Tri-Sen:
While our headquarters is in Houston Texas, we have offices in Europe, Singapore, the Middle east,
India and China providing turbomachinery controls solutions to the power and process industries
throughout the world. Since 1976 our focus has been on supplying high-quality, control services and
products for turbines, compressors and generators.

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Application Advisory No. 1707-01
Webster, Texas Hilversum, The Netherlands Singapore

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