Lecture # 3

Department of Mechatronics and Control Engineering

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
 Air treatment:
 Air leaving the compressor can be hot and contain contaminants such as oil
from compressor, moisture and dirt particles.
 The after-coolers, dryers and filters are used to give contaminant free air.

After Coolers:
 Heat exchangers similar to intercoolers and can be
either air or water cooled.
 Water cooler:
 Consists of a series of pipes through which the cooling water flows
 Air moving through the space around the pipes and so becoming cooled.
 Aim to get air no higher than about 15 ͦC above the temperature of
atmospheric air at the compressor intake.
 Air leaving the compressor will contain water vapor and reduction in
temperature condenses some of this vapor and it has to be drained.
 Float-operated drain trap
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
 Air treatment:
 Air leaving the compressor can be hot and contain contaminants such as oil
from compressor, moisture and dirt particles.
 The after-coolers, dryers and filters are used to give contaminant free air.

After Coolers:
 Heat exchangers similar to intercoolers and can be
either air or water cooled.
 Water cooler:
 Consists of a series of pipes through which the cooling water flows
 Air moving through the space around the pipes and so becoming cooled.
 Aim to get air no higher than about 15 ͦC above the temperature of
atmospheric air at the compressor intake.
 Air leaving the compressor will contain water vapor and reduction in
temperature condenses some of this vapor and it has to be drained.
 Float-operated drain trap
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
Dryers:
 Water in compressed air can many problems such as corrosion and malfunction
of pneumatic components
 Aim to reduce the amount of water vapor in the compressed air to a level which
will prevent water condensing out
 In discussing the quantity of water vapor in air the following
terms need to be discussed:

Saturation:
Air is said to be saturated when it contains the maximum amount of water vapor
which it can hold at a particular temperature.

Relative Humidity:
Measure of the amount of water vapor present in a sample of air.
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
Dew Point:
Temperature at which a sample of air becomes saturated.

Ability of air to absorb water increases with temperature.

Types of dryers:
The chemical absorption dryer:
 Passing the air through a chemical, the desiccant, which absorbs some of the
water vapor
 During absorption, the chemical slowly liquefies and seeps to the bottom of the
vessel
 Dryer requires periodically to be recharged with chemical
 Dew point of air leaving this type of dryer is typically about 5 ͦC
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
The adsorption dryer:
 Two chambers containing a desiccant chemical.
 Air to be dried is passed through one chamber.
 The other chamber containing spent chemicals is being regenerated by heating
and the passage of a purge air stream.
 After a time the air flow is switched from one chamber to the other.
 These dryers can achieve dew points of -20 ͦC or lower.
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
The Refrigeration dryer:
 Cooling of wet air down to a temperature of about +2 ͦC and so condensing out
much of the water vapor.
 Incoming wet air is first cooled by passing through a heat exchanger where it is
cooled by the outgoing dry air
 Then passes through the refrigerant heat exchanger where it is further cooled.
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
Filters:
 Used to remove dirt before the air enters a compressor.
 Dry Filters
 Wet Filters
 Air filters are rated in terms of the largest size of
Spherical particles that will pass through the filter.
 Dust particles are generally larger than 10 um while smoke particles about 1 um.
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Lubricator:
 To ensure that sliding parts in pneumatic devices are lubricated, a selected
lubricant is added to compressed air by means of a lubricator.
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Pressure Regulators:
 Air pressure from the supply is set to be greater than that required for a pneumatic
system
 Pressure regulation is used to keep the pressure constant.
 A pressure reducing valve, termed as pressure regulator is used for this purpose
and has following two types:
 Non-Relieving Pressure Regulator:
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
 Relieving Pressure Regulator:
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 Pressure Relief Valve:
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Service Units:
Term used for a combination of a filter, moisture separator, pressure
regulator, pressure indicator and lubricator.
 Production and Distribution of fluid Power
Air Receiver:
Compressors are normally operated with an air receiver.
Purpose:
 To store the compressed air
 To smooth out the pulsing flow of air from the compressor
 To act as an emergency supply to the system in the event of power failure
 To assist with air cooling.

Size of the receiver and allowable variations in the supply pressure

determine the frequency with which the compressor switches on and off.

Provided with safety relief valve.

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Compressor Control:
Control of compressor is necessary in order to maintain the pressure in the
air receiver..
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Plant Layout:
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Pipe Sizing:
Charts are available for determining the size of pipes required to meet particular
situations, e.g a particular pipe length, rates of free air flow, absolute system
pressure and pressure loss.
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Pipe Sizing:
Pressure drops due to pipe fittings such as a 90 ͦ bend or tee can be determined by
the use of tables which show the pressure drop in terms of equivalent pipe lengths.

Example:
Using the above table, determine the total equivalent pipe length for a 50 mm
internal pipe diameter system having six 90 ͦ bends, two elbow fittings, four tee-
connections and two gate valves.
Pneumatic and Hydraulic Systems by W. Bolton
Chapter 2: Pneumatic and Hydraulic Principles
 Thank you
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