Patent ID: 7785078

Claim:
A method for monitoring a reciprocating compressor, comprising: reading from sensors, associated with the reciprocating compressor, data corresponding to measured parameters relating to an operating state of the reciprocating compressor; reading manually entered data corresponding to manually entered parameters relating to the operating state of the reciprocating compressor; reading from a first database reference parameters relating to the operating state of the reciprocating compressor; reading operating parameters of the reciprocating compressor that are calculated by a design program; performing a first comparison by analyzing the reference parameters with respect to the measured parameters, the manually entered parameters, and the operating parameters; performing a second comparison by analyzing the reference parameters with respect to the measured parameters, and the manually entered parameters; detecting whether an anomaly exists based on results of the first and second comparisons; and if an anomaly is detected in the first and second comparisons, performing a search in a second database to find a match of previously stored data correlated with predetermined anomalies and corresponding characteristics of the predetermined anomalies, and sending a signal according to the match, the signal indicating characteristics of the detected anomaly of the operating state of the reciprocating compressor, wherein the measured parameters and the manually entered parameters related to the operating state of the reciprocating compressor include one or more of an intake pressure of a first stage of the reciprocating compressor, an intake temperature of each stage of the reciprocating compressor, a delivery pressure of a last stage of the reciprocating compressor, a composition of the gas, an ambient pressure of the reciprocating compressor, a speed of rotation of the reciprocating compressor, and a temperature of a cooling fluid at an inlet and an outlet of the reciprocating compressor cylinders, and wherein the operating parameters include one or more of a gas flow rate, a delivery pressure of each stage except the last stage of the reciprocating compressor, a delivery temperature at each stage of the reciprocating compressor, a power consumption of the reciprocating compressor and forces acting on the reciprocating compressor and the operating parameters are calculated by the design program based on the measured parameters and the manually entered parameters related to the operating state of the reciprocating compressor.