conveying air compressor.

INDUSTRIAL CONVEYING AIR COMPRESSOR

1. What the compressor means and what their types ?
2. What factor we have to keep in mind while design compressor?
3. What are the applications?
4. What are the parts of compressor?
5. What is the mechanism or working procedure of industrial compressor?
6. How to measure the capacity of compressor? 
7. Troubleshooting in modern compressors?
8. Symptoms of breaking down of compressor or some general problems? 

so these are some questions which are always force you to scratch your mind while your are in field or while you are in front of the huge compressors. so here i am trying to give you some idea about the same with some real time problems with pictures.

What the compressor means and what their types ?

Ans.   The compressor is the simple machine which works on simple mechanism that sucks low pressure air from atmosphere and eject it high pressurized air. It is a device which convert electric and mechanical power into high pressurized air. those mechanical powers or we can say the mechanical equipment which are using in compressor are electric motor, air receiver tanks, some valves, suction pipes,coolers,necessary isolating,water separator,silencers, filters and various sizes tubes. We can use compressor as our need and our application but as per the application the structure and construction and design parameters are also change.
Types of compressor.
The type and characteristics of compressor can be broadly classified into two types

1. The capacity type
2. the centrifugal or turbo type

Capacity type:

• Screw type: compression method is to rotate a male and female screw rotor within a casting.
• Reciprocating type: Compression method is the reciprocating action of a piston.

Centrifugal type

• Turbo type: compression method is the centrifugal force created the rotation of an impeller.

While we talking about capacity screw type compressor. there is again two broad classification in screw type only.

• Oil free type 
• Oil Supply type

The oil free type and oil supply type the rotor shape is the same,but the position where they mesh, the oil free type rotate without contact, and the oil supply type type rotate with contact.

One feature of the oil free screw compressor,is that it generate clean compressed air that does not contain oil.This type is widely use in industries such as food processing, chemical, pharmaceutical etc where oil cannot mixed in with the air.the major advantage of this type is rotor rotates without contact, so they have excellent durability with long interval between maintenance  timing, and do not require much labor.

                         

What factor we have to keep in mind while design compressor?

Air compressor shall be designed for continuous operation with high efficiency to satisfy the system requirements. satisfactory operation in parallel shall be ensured without any uneven load sharing, undue vibration, noise etc. The design shall be incorporate every reasonable precaution for the safety of all operation and maintenance personnel.Each compressor unit should have all moving parts protected by guard. so here are some factors which you have to keep in mind while design compressor.

1. How much air we have to required.
2. How much distance covered the material with compressed air.
3. What is the mode and material of transportation of air.
4. How many instruments are use compress air.
5. Density of a material.
6. Application for which we are willing to use compressor.
7. Temperature and climatic condition of the area where we want to use compressor
8. What is the skill level of those persons who use air compressor.
9. How spacious the compressor room is.
10. solidity of conveying lines.

so these are some factors which we have to keep in mind while design compressor  

What are the applications of compressor?

Compressor are used in wide range of industrial field and have a wide range of applications these application can be broadly split in to the following three categories.

• Application that directly take and used compressed air.

Painting or chemical spraying          

Sand blasting

Air dusting

• Application in which something is rotated or vibrated by the force of compressed air.

Air turbines

Air grinders

Air hammer

• Application that carry out measurements or control using the flow of pressurized air.

Various types of measuring instruments and control circuits

What are the parts of compressor?

VALVES

• non return valve
• gasket intake valve
• adapter intake valve
• solenoid valve
• ball valve
• minimum pressure valve
• blow down valve

Flange and coupling

• drive coupling
• motor mounting flange
• air end mounting bracket
• anti vibration mount
• elbow clamp
• orifice

Hose pipes and tubes

• discharge pipe bottom
• oil injection hose
• ST-Fitting tubes
• suction duct wend CUF

Equipment

• air oil separator
• oil filter nipple
• thermal plugs
• swivel elbow
• moisture separator

and many other parts including nuts and bolts . different sizes washers different sizes rivets.

What is the mechanism or working procedure of industrial compressor?

All the compressors are worked on the same principal that is converting electric energy in to kinetic energy. Hence the mechanism is varies on application for what the purpose to be compressor is used. and the construction and type of the compressor.
Air compressor collect and store air in pressurized tank, and use piston and valve or some time rotary gear and screws its depends on the type of compressor.To achieve the appropriate pressure levels within an air storage tank that is attached to the motorized unit. there are a few different types of piston compressor that can deliver even air pressure to the user.
Automotive compressor are combustion engine compressor that use the up and down stroke of the piston to allow air in and pressurized air with the storage tank, other piston compressor utilized a diaphragm, oil-free piston. these pull air in, and pressurized it by not allowing air to escape during the collection period.
These are the most common type of air compressor that are used today by skilled workers and craftsmen. Before the day of motorized engines. air compressor were not what they are today. unable to store pressurized air.

In other simple words we can say that the compressor sucks the air from atmosphere and send that air to gear box where rotary, screw are present there the oil and air are mixed with the help of centrifugal force to increase the pressure of air and then the mixture is transfer to the cylinder or we can say that the oil separator where the oil is separated from air and that oil is gather in below portion of that cylinder because of gravity and the air or pressurized air is transfer to the blower where the blower can increase the dryness fraction of air and then that dry air can simply store in the tanks can say air receiver tank. from where we can use that air for our application.

How to measure the capacity of compressor?

The capacity of an air compressor is determined by the amount of free air (at sea level) that it can compress to a specified pressure, usually 100 psi per minute, under the condition of 68 F and a relative humidity of 38 percent. the capacity is expressed in cubic feet per minute  (CFM) and is usually include in the nomenclature of the compressor.
The number of pneumatic tools that can be operated at one time from n air compressor depends on the air requirements of each tools.
However, if a third such drill is added to the compressor, the combined demand is 285 cfm, and this condition overloads the compressor and the tools and results in serious wear.

Troubleshooting in modern compressors?

There are some general problem because of which the compressor breakdown

PROBLEM 1 : Compressor will  not operate

Reason : 

1. No electric power 
2. low oil level
3. pressure switch not making contact
4. pressure in the tank is below the cut- in - pressure

Solution :

1. Turn on power/push the reset button
2. check oil level replace your oil if necessary
3. see pressure switch adjustment
4. replace pressure switch to one that has a lower cut- in PSI

PROBLEM 2 : Excessive noise in operation.

Reason:

1. loose pulley, flywheel, belt,belt guard, cooler, clamp or accessories
2. lack of oil in crankcase
3. piston hitting the valve plate
4.  compressor floor mounting loose
5. defective crankcase
6. excessive crank end play

Solution:

1. tighten any loose ends
2. check for possible damage to bearings/ replenish the oil level
3. remove the compressor cylinder head and inspect for foreign matter on top of the piston. add new gasket and reassemble the head.
4. tightened the bolts on the air compressor. it may also be a good idea to replace your vibration pads 
5. repair or replace
6. adjust and shim properly.