Supervisory control for surge prevention in a gas compressor station with actuator faults

Safety and reliability of gas transmission systems include efficient performance of the gas compressor stations, being indispensable parts of the distribution network. Efficient control of gas compressor stations is an important constraint of the optimization of gas transmission networks. In this paper, the model of a gas compressor station with possible recycle valve (actuator) faults is presented using finite deterministic automata. The desired performance with respect to the safe operation of the process in the case of actuator faults is formulated in the form of regular languages. The goal is surge prevention in the presence of faults. Towards this aim, a modular supervisory control scheme, also providing controller realizability and guaranteeing a nonblocking controlled system, has been developed. The implementation of the controller is accomplished in the form of Ladder Diagrams for PLC use.