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Plant Design and Economics

Instrumentation and Control of Centrifugal Compressor System
(API-617)

Prepared by: Makineedi Venkat

Roll No: 16BE01043
Submitted to: Prof. Dhruvi Shah
• Centrifugal compressor suction Knock Out Drum is intended for removing the entrained liquids
before sending gas to the compressor. Demister, mesh pad etc. are used in the knock out drum
to efficiently remove the liquid droplets.

• Compressor aftercoolers are generally air coolers and the related fan, motor etc.

• Inlet, outlet lines for each equipment, anti-surge line, drain/vent lines, line to the relief valve etc.
are the next components. Line number, material class, size etc. is to be correctly assigned to
each of the lines.

• Requirement for isolation valves, spectacle blind, spaces etc. depend on the project standards.

• Pressure relief valves can be provided on the compressor discharge line, downstream to the
check valve, to protect the equipment's downstream of compressor.
• Pressure transmitters should be provided on compressor suction and discharge line. A flow
transmitter should be provided on compressor suction line. Signals from these transmitters are
sent to an ‘Anti-Surge Controller’.

• When the compressor approaches surge condition (low flow, high differential head), the anti-
surge valves open up to lower the pressure differential and circulate higher gas flow.

• Level transmitters provided on the suction knock out drum are responsible for liquid level
control in the drum. Alarms are usually provided for high and high high liquid level conditions.

• Temperature transmitter can be provided on aftercooler for temperature control by sending a

signal to adjust the fan speed of the air cooler.

• Emergency Shutdown (ESD) valves can be provided on inlet / outlet lines of the compressors
system to isolate whole system in case of a shutdown.

• All the each control unit or instrument may be modified as per specific requirements of any
particular project and if not specified given as per API-617 standards which gives its size,
range of operation, etc. But the components mentioned here are as per API-617.
Typical P&ID for a centrifugal compressor system
 References

• Bela G. Liptak, Instrument Engineers' Handbook, Volume Two: Process Control and
Optimization, 4th Edition.
• Centrifugal Compressor, American Petroleum Institute Standard 617, 5th edition, April
1986
• https://instrumentationtools.com/pid-guidelines-centrifugal-compressor-systems/
Thank you