Adaptive control of compressor surge instability (Q1614402)

A simple high-gain type adaptive control scheme for surge stabilization in a compression system is proposed. A typical configuration is considered in which the plenum throttle position is the control input, while the measured output is given by the total pressure at the compressor inlet. Convergence of the control scheme is proved making use of a simplified, but widely accepted, second-order model. The system does not satisfy strict minimum phase assumptions, usually introduced in the high-gain type adaptive control context, and therefore the proof has been tailored to the specific problem. The proposed controller is finally validated by means of both numerical simulation and experiments on a real plant.