On Stability and Surge in Turbocharger Compressors

Abstract: Turbochargers are used on many automotive internal combustion engines to increase power density. The broad operating range of the engine also requires a wide range of the turbocharger compressor. At low mass flows, however, turbo compressor operation becomes unstable and eventually enters surge. Surge is characterized by large oscillations in mass flow and pressure. Due to the associated noise, control problems, and possibility of mechanical component damage, this has to be avoided.Different indicators exist to classify compressor operation as stable or unstable on a gas stand. They are based on pressure oscillations, speed oscillations, or inlet temperature increase. In this thesis, a new stability indicator is proposed based on the Hurst exponent of the pressure signal. The Hurst exponent is a number between zero and one that describes what kind of long-term correlations are present in a time series.Data from three cold gas stand experiments are analyzed using this criterion. Results show that the Hurst exponent of the compressor outlet pressure signal has good characteristics. Stable operation is being indicated by values larger than 0.5. As compressor operation moves towards the surge line, the Hurst exponent decreases towards zero. An additional distinction between the long-term correlations of small and large amplitude fluctuations by means of higher order Hurst exponents can be used as an early warning indicator.Further tests using compressor housing accelerometers show that the Hurst exponent is not a good choice for real-time surge detection on the engine. Reasons are the long required sampling time compared to competing methods, and the fact that other periodically repeating oscillations lead to Hurst exponents close to zero independent of compressor operation.