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ASME B19.3-1991 rus (scan) — Safety Standard for Compressors for Process Industries (Russian Edition)
🏭 ASME B19.3-1991, Safety Standard for Compressors for Process Industries, was developed by the ASME B19 Committee, approved as an American National Standard by ANSI on May 10, 1991, and issued on July 31, 1991, superseding ANSI/ASME B19.3-1986. The document covered by this article is the Russian-language edition of that standard — a 20-page scanned translation (OCR text layer) intended for design institutes, manufacturers, and operating organizations in Russian-speaking regions that conduct compressor safety reviews for process plants. The technical content of the Russian edition is identical to the English original; only the language carrier differs. The foreword notes that compressed gases have been used in the process industries for many years, and that the accumulated operating experience formed a solid basis for the standard — but the experience was scattered and hard to access, and consolidating it into a usable national standard was precisely the task of B19.3.
💡 B19.3 is a safety standard, not a design code. It provides general information on safe practices plus specific recommendations for basic safety requirements, guiding engineers who design, install, and operate process compressors — without prescribing the structural design of compressor parts themselves.
1. Scope and General Framework 📌
The Standard’s purpose is to present general information on safe practices and specific recommendations for the basic safety requirements of compressors used in the process industries. Its applicability has clear boundaries:
- Equipment covered: the compressor proper and its auxiliary equipment, including the driver, intercoolers, surge bottles (pulsation dampeners), separators or scrubbers, connecting piping, and the lubrication, seal-oil, and cooling-water jacket systems.
- Machine types covered: centrifugal, axial, rotary (including screw and liquid-ring), and reciprocating compressors — no structural type is exempt.
- Industries covered: petroleum, petrochemical, and chemical plants, expressly including air separation units where the compressor is an integral part of the process.
- Exclusions: plant air compressors for utility service are not within the Standard’s scope; neither is the basic mechanical design of compressor parts (cylinders, pistons, crankshafts, flywheels, bearings, pressure vessels, and piping must be designed by qualified engineers to recognized standards), nor the design and operation of the connected process plant itself.
The safety principles are not limited to new installations. The Standard recommends that all existing compressor systems be reviewed in light of revisions to the Standard. For special designs or complex systems, the designer who can complete a rigorous, traceable system analysis is allowed flexibility in developing safety measures — but the analysis must be complete and documented.
⚠️ A common misunderstanding is that “a compressor is a packaged unit, so safety is the supplier’s responsibility.” B19.3 explicitly includes connecting piping, surge bottles, separator vessels, seal-oil and cooling-water systems in its safety requirements — and these are frequently engineered by the user or the design institute. The responsibility boundary must be written into the project division-of-work.
2. Key Definitions and Safety Design Basis 📖
Section 1.3 of the Standard defines four terms that govern all subsequent protection settings. These definitions are not word games: they are the technical benchmark for overpressure, speed, and surge protection, and engineering documents must use them consistently:
| Term | Definition Essence | Engineering Use |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum allowable temperature | The highest temperature for which the manufacturer designed the compressor (or a specified part) for the specified gas and pressure | Sets interlock trip temperatures, material and seal selection limits |
| Maximum allowable working pressure | The highest pressure for which the manufacturer designed the compressor (or cylinder, casing, etc.) for the specified gas and temperature | Sets the upper limit for relief-valve/rupture-disc set pressures; never to be exceeded |
| Maximum continuous speed | The highest speed at which continuous operation is permitted with over-speed protection and governing installed and functioning | Sets mechanical over-speed trip and governor settings |
| Surge point | The low-capacity limit at which a centrifugal or axial compressor begins to operate unstably at running speed | Sets the anti-surge recycle line and surge-protection interlock thresholds |
Section 1.5 fixes the mandatory language rules: shall denotes mandatory rules, while should (or wording such as “recommended”) denotes advisory content. Section 1.6 states that the Standard presents SI (metric) and U.S. customary units together; the SI values are “soft conversions” of the customary values, and when the two unit systems differ in dimensions or computed results, the customary units govern. This point frequently triggers disputes in international projects and must be settled in the contract’s technical annex.
3. Overpressure Protection and Safety Devices 🔧
Sections 3.1 (overpressure protection) and 3.2 (safety devices) form the technical core of the Standard. The logical starting point: discharge-side pressure can accumulate from outlet isolation, downstream blockage, cooling failure, or gas backflow, so protection layers matched to the hazard must be provided. For positive-displacement (volumetric) compressors the requirement is absolute — a relief device must be provided between the compressor discharge and the block valve, with no exceptions. The reason is direct: a positive-displacement compressor can, in principle, raise discharge pressure without limit until the piping or casing fails.
| Protection Layer | Typical Device | Setting Basis | Key Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary overpressure protection | Spring-loaded safety valve | ASME BPVC Section VIII Div. 1 and API RP 520 design and installation | Set pressure must not exceed the maximum allowable working pressure of the parts |
| Alternative primary protection | Rupture disc | High relieving capacity, fast response, or polymerizing/plugging media | Evaluate downstream disposal-system acceptance of the burst flow |
| High-pressure interlock | Pressure switch plus shutdown circuit | Below the safety-valve set point, acting first | Interlocks must not be bypassed long-term; bypasses need approval and records |
| Lube and seal protection | Low lube-oil-pressure and seal-oil-differential interlocks | Manufacturer’s recommended values | Oil-pressure loss is the main cause of bearing burn-out and seal failure; act before mechanical damage |
| Temperature protection | High discharge-temperature and high bearing-temperature trips | Below maximum allowable temperature | For reciprocating machines, watch discharge temperature effects on coking and explosion risk |
| Speed protection | Governor plus independent mechanical over-speed trip | Trip above maximum continuous speed, below destructive speed | Over-speed protection must be independent of the governing system to avoid common-cause failure |
| Surge protection | Anti-surge recycle valve, surge detection and fast-open control | Margined off the surge point | Recycle piping must account for gas heating and cooling |
🚨 The overpressure logic of block valves rests on the premise that such valves are used only to isolate shutdown equipment. Special precautions are therefore required to ensure these valves are open when the equipment is in service. Pre-start valve line-up checklists and interlock forcing logic must be used — operating-procedure text alone is not enough.
4. Fire, Explosion, and Leak Prevention 🔥
Sections 3.3 (fire and explosion protection) and 3.4 (leak prevention and control where toxic or flammable materials are involved) form the second major technical block. The Standard’s point of departure is the three accident modes characteristic of compressors: internal fire or explosion, destructive mechanical failure, and leakage of toxic or flammable fluids. Around these modes, the Standard builds a protective system spanning layout, ventilation, electrical classification, detection, firefighting, and disposal routing.
| Hazard Scenario | Protection Direction | Typical Engineering Measures |
|---|---|---|
| Flammable gas leakage forming an explosive atmosphere | Area electrical classification and equipment selection | Classify hazardous areas per API RP 500A; select electrical equipment per ANSI/NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code) |
| Leaked gas accumulating in the building | Ventilation and detection | Forced ventilation, combustible-gas detectors interlocked to alarm and shutdown, high-point relief |
| Internal fire or explosion in the compressor | Operating-parameter control and inerting | Control discharge temperature, avoid coke deposits, inert where necessary, provide burst relief openings |
| Oil-system fire | Lubrication/seal-oil fire-risk control | Route oil piping away from hot surfaces, isolation valves, fire-water spray or steam inerting |
| Toxic medium leakage (e.g., chlorine) | Seal type and disposal routing | Double mechanical seals, seal-gas/oil systems, route leakage to scrubber or flare, per applicable chlorine guidelines |
| Flammable gas compression (e.g., acetylene) | Process limits and special codes | Follow CGA requirements for acetylene, restrict compression ratio and velocity |
💡 Section 1.4 lists the complete referenced-document network: ASME B31.3 (process piping), ASME BPVC Section VIII Div. 1 (pressure vessels), API RP 520 (relief system design/installation), API 618 (refinery reciprocating compressors), API RP 500A (electrical area classification), ANSI/NFPA 70 and ANSI/NFPA 37, NEMA ICS-1/ICS-2 and MG1/MG2, ASME A13.1 and ISO R508 (piping identification and color coding), and OSHA 29 CFR 1910. Checking compliance against this list item by item is more efficient than memorizing clauses.
5. Vibration Limits and Mechanical Integrity 📊
Section 3.5 specifies vibration limits — the primary quantitative means of preventing “destructive mechanical failure.” Vibration sources include rotor unbalance, bearing wear, gas pulsation (especially prominent in reciprocating machines), foundation and piping resonance, and surge. The Standard calls for graded response: alarm values prompt trend monitoring and scheduled inspection; trip values require immediate shutdown. Measurement points must cover both shaft vibration and casing vibration, and reciprocating machines additionally require attention to crosshead, crankcase, and piping pulsation. Mechanical integrity management is the companion discipline: safety valves and rupture discs must be periodically tested and sealed, interlocks and alarms function-tested, vibration and temperature trends fed into condition monitoring, and lubricating oil analyzed on schedule. In the Russian edition, the term “техника безопасности” (safety engineering) carries exactly this whole-of-life responsibility — from design through installation to operation — rather than a set of operator-level cautions.
6. Engineering Practice Essentials 🛠️
- 🔍 Do the system analysis before claiming clause compliance: the Standard allows alternatives for special or complex designs, but only with a complete system-level analysis proving equivalent safety. Treating “the standard does not say” as an exemption is the most common audit failure.
- 🔧 Draw the responsibility boundaries: the design and supply responsibility for the compressor, driver, intercoolers, surge bottles, separators, connecting piping, lube/seal-oil systems, and cooling-water system must be fixed in project documents so no “interface zone” is left unattended.
- 📋 Build a protection-layer register: order the layers as process control → alarm → interlock → physical relief → firefighting, and check for common-cause failures (e.g., over-speed trip and governor sharing one speed signal source).
- 📊 Handle the unit-system difference: because SI values are soft conversions, if the project approves in metric, agree on the conversion rules and tolerances in the technical agreement to avoid acceptance disputes.
- 📚 Use the Russian translation with care: the scanned edition’s OCR text may contain character-recognition errors (e.g., digits/letters confused); for set points, dimensions, and clause numbers, verify against the ASME English original or the latest revision.
7. Frequently Asked Questions ❓
❓ Q: Does B19.3 apply to a plant’s utility air compressor station?
A: No. The Standard explicitly excludes plant air compressors used for utility service. Its object of coverage is process compressors that are part of petroleum, petrochemical, chemical, and air-separation plants. Compressed-air stations should follow other applicable codes and local safety regulations.
A: No. The Standard explicitly excludes plant air compressors used for utility service. Its object of coverage is process compressors that are part of petroleum, petrochemical, chemical, and air-separation plants. Compressed-air stations should follow other applicable codes and local safety regulations.
❓ Q: Does the Standard prescribe the strength design of compressor parts?
A: No. The Standard states it does not cover the basic mechanical design of compressor parts; it presupposes that parts are engineered by qualified engineers to recognized standards and codes. It governs safety devices and protective facilities, not cylinder, crankshaft, or flywheel strength calculations.
A: No. The Standard states it does not cover the basic mechanical design of compressor parts; it presupposes that parts are engineered by qualified engineers to recognized standards and codes. It governs safety devices and protective facilities, not cylinder, crankshaft, or flywheel strength calculations.
❓ Q: Why must positive-displacement compressors have a relief device “with no exceptions”?
A: Positive-displacement machines have no pressure-flow self-limiting characteristic — when the discharge is blocked, pressure can in principle rise without limit. Hence a relief device must be installed between the discharge and the block valve, and interlocks or operating procedures cannot replace physical relief.
A: Positive-displacement machines have no pressure-flow self-limiting characteristic — when the discharge is blocked, pressure can in principle rise without limit. Hence a relief device must be installed between the discharge and the block valve, and interlocks or operating procedures cannot replace physical relief.
❓ Q: Is there any technical difference between this Russian edition and the English original?
A: The technical content is identical; the differences are the language and the physical form of the document (a scan with an OCR text layer, 20 pages). The Russian edition carries the same issuance date (July 31, 1991), supersedes the 1986 edition, and notes that revisions are issued through addenda service, with addenda changes taking effect one year after issuance.
A: The technical content is identical; the differences are the language and the physical form of the document (a scan with an OCR text layer, 20 pages). The Russian edition carries the same issuance date (July 31, 1991), supersedes the 1986 edition, and notes that revisions are issued through addenda service, with addenda changes taking effect one year after issuance.
