MHI Integrally Geared Type

Compressor for Large

Capacity Application and
Process Gas Application

NAOTO YONEMURA* 1
YUJI FUTAGAMI* 1
SEIICHI IBARAKI* 2

This paper introduces an outline of the structures, features, development, examples of actual deliveries, and
the future outlook for integrally geared centrifugal compressors (hereafter called geared compressors) that have
been delivered by MHI to various markets since 1967. In this paper, a detailed explanation is presented of large
size geared compressor trains used for PTA (purified terephthalic acid) plants and geared compressors used for
feeding fuel gas to gas turbines.

drive unit. Recently, however, as these machines have

1. Introduction advanced into various process fields, they have become
Applications for the geared compressors manufactured increasingly larger in size and are being applied in an
by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) have been ever-expanding range of applications.
expanding gradually since the first machines were de- The scope of application of MHI's geared compressors
livered in 1967. The total number of machines delivered is shown in Fig.1
Fig.1. As can be seen in the figure, MHI's
since then has reached more than 500 units. geared compressors are capable of producing pressures
Traditionally, geared compressors have been used as as high as 6.0MPa (A) and intake flow rates as large as
a source of factory air supply, integrated into a package 300 000Am 3/H, thereby being readily able to fulfill re-
that also includes intercoolers, a lubricating oil unit, and cent market requirements.
This report introduces (1) large geared compressor
trains used for PTA plants that are increasing each year,
and (2) fuel gas geared compressors used to feed fuel gas
to gas turbines used in combined cycle power plants. An
overview of the structure and characteristics of a geared
compressor is also given.

2. Structure and characteristics

Fuel gas Integrally geared type Many centrifugal compressors operate in petrochemi-
compressor centrifugal compressor
cal, other chemical, and air separation plants.
1 000
Centrifugal compressors are roughly classified into two
Discharge pressure (k /cm2-abs)

types. The first type is a single shaft multistage com-

pressor consisting of a series of impellers installed
100 together on a single shaft which are the main compo-
nents for pressurizing the gas [Fig.2 Fig.2
Fig.2(a)]. The impellers
are located on the shaft between two bearings that sup-
port it. In the case of such a single shaft multistage
10
compressor, a gear unit is coupled between the com-
pressor and drive unit, when the rotational speed of
the drive unit is less than that required for the com-
1 pressor.
100 1 000 10 000 100 000 1 000 000 The other type of centrifugal compressor has a built-
Inlet flow rate (Am3/h) i n g e a r, n a m e l y a g e a r e d c o m p r e s s o r. A g e a r e d
Fig. 1 Scope of application of geared compressors compressor has an overhang type pinion shaft. Each
impeller is attached to the end of its own high-speed pin-

*1 Hiroshima Machinery Works Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

*2 Nagasaki Research & Development Center, Technical Headquarters Technical Review Vol. 41 No. 3 (Jun. 2004)
1
 Impellers Diaphragm

Casing
Labyrinth
seal
Shaft seal

Roller
bearing

(a) Construction of single shaft (b) Construction of

multistage type compressor geared compressor

Fig.2 Comparison of single shaft multistage compressor and geared

compressor (Integrally geared type compressor)

ion shaft within the gear unit. The pinion shafts are lo-
cated around the circumference of a bull gear that rotates Casing
at a low speed [Fig.2(b)].
The speed of each pinion shaft can be set by matching Gas flow

the number of teeth in each pinion to conform to the op- Impeller Load
timum speed of each impeller. Direction of
When designing a geared compressor, it is very im- eccentricity
Shaft
portant to conduct an overall technical evaluation of all
the basic mechanical components of the compressor such
as the impellers, gears, bearings, shaft seals, casing, etc., : The eccentricity of the shaft
since each impeller is directly installed onto pinion shafts generates an impeller exiting force.
that rotate at high speeds. MHI can produce and supply : Case in which the exciting force is not considered.
: Case in which the exciting force is considered.
all the geared compressors to high levels of mechanical
0.30
reliability, by designing each component based on design
Logarithmic decrement

0.25 Larger
criteria established through extensive tests carried out
0.20
within the company.
Stability
Fig. 3 shows the results of an analysis for the vibra- 0.15

tion stability of a pinion shaft, as an example of 0.10

component design. There is an aerodynamic exciting force 0.05 Smaller
that is generated in the impeller, one of the various ex- 0.00
citing forces that cause the shaft to vibrate. Fig. 3 shows Forward rotation Forward rotation
primary mode secondary mode
a comparison of the analysis results, when the aerody-
namic exciting force is considered, and when it is not Fig. 3 Comparison of change in shaft system vibration stability
considered. From the figure, it can be seen that stability depending on existence of impeller exciting force
The logarithmic decrement that indicates shaft stability has a tendency
is reduced when the aerodynamic exciting force gener- to decrease with the existence of an exciting force.
ated in the impeller is considered.
As indicated by the above, it is necessary to conduct a
prior examination taking the exciting force into consid- multistage compressor, expander, steam turbine, and a
eration in order to analyze the vibration behavior of a drive motor. Despite such a complex train, MHI can also
geared compressor. In addition, the behavior of the ro- propose the train that is best suited for a given plant
tor varies significantly as the tangential force produced because the company has extensive experience in the
in the gear due to the operating condition changes. design and manufacture of every kind of rotating ma-
Hence, it is also important to analyze the vibration of chine. The train is selected based on careful mechanical
the pinion shaft under partial loads. examinations of the component machines, a comprehen-
Depending on the type of plant, the main compres- sive evaluation of the train composition satisfying all
sor train may be composed of different rotating requirements for the plant (gas balance and power bal-
machines such as a geared compressor, single shaft ance), and its operating method.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Technical Review Vol. 41 No. 3 (Jun. 2004)
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 Inter-heater

E2 E1 Pre-heater

Motor
Third step intercooler Steam
turbine
C4 C3

C2 C1
Second stage intercooler

First stage intercooler

(a) Example in which a compressor and expander are combined

Intercooler

Fig. 5 Combined geared compressor for PTA plant

C2 C1
(Type in which a compressor and expander are combined)
Motor
Third step intercooler
Expander Gas heater Motor Compressor Steam turbine
C4 C3

C2 C1
Second stage intercooler

First stage intercooler

(b) Example in which two compressors are combined

Fig. 4 Example of combined geared compressor

1700

MHI also provides combined type geared compres-

sors that utilize the characteristics of geared Air cooler Condenser
compressors, in which the rotational speed of each pin-
ion shaft can be freely selected. In this type of geared Fig. 6 Compressor train for a 500 000 tons/year PTA plant
The compressor train consists of an expander, motor, compressor,
compressor, different application impellers or expander and steam turbine.
impellers for recovering power are installed in one gear
unit casing.
Fig. 4 shows examples of combined type geared com- The capacity of PTA plants has been steadily increas-
pressors. Adopting a combined type geared compressor ing in recent years. Plants generally ranged in size from
offers the benefit of remarkably reducing the amount of around 250 000 to 400 000 tons/year in the 1990s. In this
space necessary for installation, since the different com- decade, PTA plants recently installed have capacities
pressor casings can be integrated into a single casing ranging from 500 000 to 700 000 tons/year, with future
and saving can be made on auxiliary equipments. In plants expected to increase even further to capacities as
addition to the above-mentioned merits, various losses large as 1 million tons/year.
including mechanical losses of rotating machines, such Fig. 6 shows an example of a compressor train used
as bearing losses can be reduced, and the size of the lu- for a 500 000 tons/year PTA plant. It is essential to opti-
bricating unit can be significantly reduced. The overall mize the equipment arrangement and operation method
result is that significant savings in required power can used in the compressor train of a PTA plant. The reason
be achieved. for this is that, in addition to electric motors, admission
Fig. 5 shows a photograph of a combined type geared low pressure steam turbines and off-gas expanders are
compressor that consists of a compressor and expander also used as drive units, in order to recover the power.
for a PTA plant. The low pressure steam and off-gas generated in the
plant are used for these drivers.
3. Expansion of applications for geared compressors Extremely high mechanical reliability is required for
3.1 Large size geared compressors this type of compressor train, since it plays a major role
A typical example of an application for large geared com- as the so-called heart of the plant feeding air to the
pressors is a compressor train used in a large PTA plant. reactor.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Technical Review Vol. 41 No. 3 (Jun. 2004)
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 PTA PLANT TOTAL TRAIN
Compressor Wheel
Shaft
+Motor Generator
+Expander Wheel
Shaft
4 Compressor
+
LP Pinion Shaft
26 3
+ +1 + Compressor
MP Pinion Shaft
+ Compressor
5 HP Pinion Shaft
Steam Turbine Shaft
+ S/T drive Pinion
Shaft
Expander Pinion Shaft
INFORMATION
SHAFT 1 2 3 4 5 6
LENGTH (mm) 10 395.40 2 218.00 1 612.00 1 256.00 6 268.70 1 180.00
WEIGHT (kg) 14 152.67 1 335.04 262.10 116.80 4 589.59 105.58
IP (kgfmms 2) 379 095.31 5 466.64 228.23 47.40 47 442.47 52.50

Wheel Shaft Compressor Compressor Compressor S/T Shaft Expander

LP Shaft MP Shaft HP Shaft Shaft
1 185 rpm 7 830 rpm 12 790 rpm 15 990 rpm 4 410 rpm 1 185 rpm
9.9Hz 63.5Hz 174.4Hz 302.9Hz 50.6Hz 166.6Hz
1st Mode (0.49 N) (0.49 N) (0.82N) (1.14N) (0.69N) (0.51N)

Fig. 7 Analysis of torsional vibration of compressor train for a PTA plant

Torsional vibration analysis is carried out on the shaft systems of the train as a whole.

Center of vortex

Flow lines
Flow rate distribution
passing through
(color contours) and
the vortex center
total pressure loss
(line contours)
Critical flow
(a) Conventional impeller and large capacity impeller
lines on
Suction surface
Pressure
surface
Suction
surface
Direction
of rotation

(c) Pinion shaft equipped with a large capacity impeller (b) Flow analysis of large capacity impeller

Fig. 8 Large capacity impeller

Fig. 7 shows the results of torsional vibration analy- at the inlet is less than that of a conventional impeller.
ses for various shafts, which were conducted to verify The height of each vane is about 50% greater than the
the mechanical reliability of the PTA plant compressor height of vanes on a conventional impeller, in order to
train. In these analyses, the overall torsional vibration increase the capacity of the impeller. In addition, the
analysis is carried out through the train as a whole, in- number of vanes at the outlet of the impeller is increased,
cluding the pinion shaft, wheel shaft, and the shafts of to reduce the load on each vane by about 30%, so that
all the drive units. the efficiency of the impeller under high-pressure ratios
Fig.8
Fig.8(a) shows a large capacity impeller developed to is improved. Fig.8(b) shows the flow analysis for a large-
cope with the needs of larger sized plants such as PTA scale impeller. This is the result of a vortex analysis for
plants, in place of conventional package type geared com- complex three-dimensional flow inside the impeller,
pressors. The large-scale impeller is made up of main which is obtained using critical point theory. This is just
vanes and intermediate vanes, and the number of vanes one example of how MHI improves impeller performance

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Technical Review Vol. 41 No. 3 (Jun. 2004)
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through the use of such flow analysis techniques (1) . A
pinion shaft with a large capacity impeller is shown in
Fig.8(c).
Since the gears also need to be larger in size as geared
compressors increase in size and capacity, MHI also ac-
tively carries out R&D concerning large sized gears.
3.2 Application for process gas
In this section, a geared compressor used to feed fuel
gas to the gas turbines in a combined cycle power plant
is described, as an example of an application for such
compressors in the process gas field. Fig. 9 illustrates
the structure of the compressor.
The fuel gas geared compressor is used to pressurize
fuel gas and feed it to a gas turbine for power genera-
Fig. 9 Fuel gas geared compressor
tion. Hence, if the geared compressor fails, the gas This image shows a cut-away view of the structure of a two-stage
turbine stops with the result that all power generation type fuel gas geared compressor.
also stops. Consequently, geared compressors need to be
extremely reliable.
4. Future development
Providing a highly reliable control system, capable of
coping with severe operating conditions such as load re- MHI intends to further improve large size geared com-
jection operation and DSS operation of the gas turbine, pressors so that they can be applied to compressor trains
is essential for this type of geared compressor. Accord- on large PTA plants with capacities as high as 1 million
ingly, MHI has established simulation technology for the tons/year. Furthermore, it is MHIs intention to apply
fuel gas geared compressor. Simulations of the system these compressors to large scale air separation units used
are to be conducted beforehand in order to assess con- for GTL (gas to liquid) plants that convert natural gas
trol response to load changes such as load rejection. into liquid fuel in keeping with environmental regula-
Tandem type dry gas seals are provided for the sealed tory requirements.
parts, since the compressor handles high pressure fuel Moreover, in the field of process gas, MHI also intends
gas with a discharge pressure as high as 5.0 MPa (A). to apply geared compressors to the pressurization of vari-
MHI developed and delivered its first fuel gas feed- ous process gases in petrochemical, oil refinery, and other
ing geared compressor in 2001. During in-company tests chemical plants, based on experiences gained with fuel
carried out before delivery, performance checks were done gas geared compressors and the application technology
on the compressor to confirm that specified performance fostered through single shaft multistage centrifugal com-
levels were achievable. Mechanical checks using full load pressors.
tests were also conducted. Furthermore, in order to dem-
5. Conclusion
onstrate the reliability at the DSS operation, the train
was started and stopped about 150 times. After this se- The future market for geared compressors will require
ries of starts and stops was completed, an overhaul further increases in capacity and high pressure, and the
inspection was carried out to check the soundness of the fields of their applications, including process gases, will
parts. The compressor has been operating stably since continue to expand. MHI will continue its efforts to meet
delivery without any problems. Based on these actual customer demands for ever-more efficient and powerful
results, the reliability of MHIs geared compressors compressors and other technologies, by carefully assess-
achieved a high evaluation, resulting in the acceptance ing such needs from various plant processes and providing
of orders for a total of twelve machines since then. the most suitable compressors to meet these needs.
Since the expansion of combined cycle power gen-
eration using gas turbines is anticipated in the future, Reference
MHI intends to make further efforts to promote the sale (1) Uchida et al., The Advanced CFD Technology for The Devel-
opment Turbo-Machinery, Mitsubishi Juko Giho Vol. 40 No.6
of fuel gas geared compressors, based on these actual
(2003) p. 336
experiences.

Naoto Yonemura Yuji Futagami Seiichi Ibaraki

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Technical Review Vol. 41 No. 3 (Jun. 2004)
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