Setting program of air cooler in gas compressor stations

An air cooler is one of the important process equipments in the gas compressor station, and it is able to ensure the gas pipeline safety and improve the gas transmission efficiency. Air coolers are commonly set by means of centralized air cooling program or stand-alone air cooling program. In previous design documents, however, it is rarely introduced which setting program is selected for the air coolers in the gas compressor station of the gas pipeline. In this paper, the stipulations on two air cooler setting programs in domestic and foreign standards and regulations were compared, and the influencing factors of two air cooler setting programs were analyzed. Then, two air cooler setting programs were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively with the China-Russia Eastern Gas Pipeline as the example. It is indicated from economic comparison results that stand-alone air cooling program is better and can be controlled more flexibly. Therefore, it is determined to adopt stand-alone air cooling program in China-Russia Pipeline. And finally, some suggestions on air cooler setting programs were proposed to provide the reference for relevant designers and operation companies.