Patent ID: 7600981

Claim:
A method for optimizing the operation of a plurality of compressor assemblies of a natural-gas compression station, comprising: after start of at least a second compressor assembly, running the rotational speeds of the running compressor assemblies in a fixed rotational speed ratio with respect to characteristic-map data for each compressor assembly, thereafter varying the rotational speed ratio by means of an equal-percentage adjustment of an operational volume of each of the running compressor assemblies and thereby adjusting the throughflow quantity of the natural-gas compression station via the rotational speed, until surge prevention valves of each of the running compressor assemblies of the natural-gas compression station are closed, thereafter leading the operating points of the compressor assemblies in their characteristic maps toward the maximum efficiency line by varying the rotational speeds of the running compressor assemblies, thereafter, in a continuous operating mode of the natural-gas compression station, determining rotational-speed desired values by means of a reciprocal mutually coordinated variation of the rotational-speed values of the compressor assemblies, in which the compressor station has a minimal fuel consumption of the natural-gas compression station and a minimal emission of an exhaust-gas quantity, and, on the basis of the rotational-speed desired values determined, adjusting and storing the fixed rotational speed ratio.