Air Compressor & Receiver

• Uses of compressed air

Installation requirements // Air compression theory // Multistage compression //
volumetric efficiency // Constructional details // operation and Maintenance //
Compressor lubrication // Explosion hazard // Air receivers
Uses of compressed air
• 25 – 30 bar
 Starting of main & auxiliary engines
 Boiler soot blowing
• 4 – 7 bar
 Service air
 Whistle air
 Pneumatic tools
 Life boat, pilot ladder
• 1.5 – 2 bar
 Instrumentation & control

Installation Requirements –
Pressure Relief devices - Relief v/v or bursting disc to be
fitted on inter & after coolers
Air Temperature- Fusible plug or high temp cut out
provided as safety measure
Pressure Test

Types of Compression
• Isothermal compression (PV = C)
• Adiabatic/Isentropic compr. (PV1.4 = C)
• Polytropic compression (PV1.3 = C)
Ideal P-V Diagram
4-1 Air induction
1-2 Air compression
2-3 Air delivery
3-4 Expansion of
remaining air
Vc Clearance vol.
Vs Swept vol (V1 – Vc)
VI Induced vol (V1 – V4)
Vol eff. = Induced vol/Swept vol
Compr. ratio = V1/ V2 = P2 / P1

Actual P-V Diagram

• Similar to ideal except induction & del.
process
• Which are modified by v/v action
• Waviness of the lines 4-1 and 2-3 is due to
– v/v bounce
– v/v inertia
– spring action
– variation in back pressure
Cycle of Operation
• On the compression stroke, pressure rises to slightly above the discharge
pressure.
• A spring loaded discharge valve opens and the compressed air passes through at
approximately constant pressure
• At the end of the stroke, a small amount of air is trapped in the clearance space
between the piston and the cylinder head
• On the suction stroke the air in the clearance space expands
• A fresh volume of air is also sucked in to the chamber and another compression
stroke begins

Effect of increasing Clearance Volume

Multistage Compression
As the pressure increases, more stages are
required with intercooling due to following
disadvantages of single stage compression:
• Low volumetric efficiency
 As pressure ratio P2 / P1 is
increased, vol efficiency drops
• High air delivery temperature
Increase in pressure ratio results in higher delivery
temp. causing
 excess coke deposits
 thermal stress
 Lubrication problem
 Explosion hazard
• Increased power input
 Inter-stage cooling lowers the work done
in compressing air
Number of stages is governed by the required final pressure of the
compressed air.

• Applied when delivery press. is high

• Compression is carried out in stages
• Ensures equal rise in temp in each stages to
prevent v/vs & springs damage
• Requires minimum work; shaded area
indicates the work saved
• If stage pressures are P1, P2 & P3, P4
P2 =  P1 . P3 & P3 =  P2 . P4
Advantages:
• Compression work is reduced
• Vol efficiency and hence compressor capacity is increased
• It approximates isothermal compression
• Vol of air delivered is reduced; as a result reduced size of cylinder, piston and
delivery pipes is required
• Reduced air delivery temp gives less thermal &mechanical loading and better
lubrication of piston & cylinder
• Due to less temp, suc & del valves remain clean
• Facilitates moisture separation
• Use of intercooler allows smaller receiver
Volumetric Efficiency - It is the relationship between the Qty of air discharged
and the swept volume.
Vol efficiency = vol of air discharged as free air / swept vol of L.P. piston
Free air is air at atm. press and at 15 deg C Vol.eff. always refer to low pressure piston
Clearance Volume -To provide for thermal expansion and prevent the piston from
striking cylinder cover, a small clearance, called bumping
clearance is maintained between cylinder cover & piston
• Bumping clearance must be as small as possible
• High bumping clearance reduces vol effn. of compressor
• Reduces compressor capacity & increases disch air temp.
• Bumping clearance is effected by bearing wear & gasket thickness
• Low bumping clearance can cause mechanical damage
• Bumping clearance must be checked after overhauling
• Clearance volume is about 6% of swept volume

Factors affecting volumetric efficiency –

• Clearance volume - gaskets , bearing wear down
• Valves – dirty, leaky, spring tension
• Leakage past piston rings
• Insufficient cooling water due to dirty coolers
• High cooling water temp.
• High air inlet temp.
• Throttling of air intake due to
– Dirty intake filter
– Insufficient suction v/v lift
– Strong suction v/v spring

Components
Air Filter // Suction & Delivery Valves // Piston // Bearings // Crankshaft // Inter-
cooler & After-cooler // Drain Trap
Safety fitting on a main compressor
LP & HP safty / relif valve ; Cooling water relif / safty valve ; Basting disc.
Fusible ; Lub oil low pressure switch ; High temp switch; Unloader
Unloader - Prevents compressor to start on load
• Some of many methods to unload compressor cylinder
– throttling of suction
– speed variation
– by-pass discharge to suction
– depression to hold suction v/v plates on their seats
Last two methods are most widely used in marine compressors.

Air Receiver - Size depends on engine requirements

• Should have sufficient capacity to give
– 12 consecutive starts for reversible engine
– 6 consecutive starts for non reversible engine
– Fabricated from good quality mild steel with UTS 500 MN/m 2 with an
elongation of not less than 23% to 25%
– having one longitudinal welded seam
– welded hemispherical dish at the ends with elliptical manhole door
– Must be cleaned internally & coated with paint or copal varnish
• Fitted with necessary mountings
Automatic operation:
The air compressors can be stopped and started by engine room staff, as necessary, to
maintain air receiver pressure.
-In port or at sea, operating one compressor for about half an hour daily.
-Whilst manoeuvring, the compressors would be started and stopped very frequently.
-Some compressors were fitted with unloaders to hold the suction valve plates off their
seats when receiver pressure reached the maximum and this gave a degree of
automatic operation.
-To drain the coolers continuously during running, an automatic device was fitted to
each cooler.
-Compressors are now normally arranged for automatic stop and start.
1. Whilst manoeuvring, the compressors would be started and stopped very
frequently unless they were steam driven, when demand could be met by varying
the speed.
 2. Some compressors were fitted with unloaders to hold the suction valve plates off
their seats when receiver pressure reached the maximum and this gave a degree
of automatic operation.
3. To drain the coolers continuously during running, an automatic device is fitted to
each cooler.
4. Compressors are now normally arranged for automatic stop and start as
dictated by demand through pressure variation.
5. The ‘Follow up machine can be operated after a certain “lag”. The 'follow'
machine is arranged to back-up the lead' machine during manoeuvring, cutting in after
the lead' machine when the receiver pressure falls below a pre-set value.
6.When the pressure switch stops the compressor, the drain valves open
automatically.
7.First and second stage cooler drains may be operated by solenoids or other means.
8.The drain valves are also opened briefly on an intermittently timed cycle thus
providing automatic draining as well as unloading.
9.The cooler drain valves are normally open whilst the compressors are not in use to
provide unloaded starting.
10.Two timers are located in the control panel. One delays the closure of the cooler
drains to give the compressor time to run up to speed and to control the time for which
drain valves remain open during periodic draining

NORMAL WORKING

s PRESSURE

Cut out
 LEAD
Cut in

Cut out
FOLLOW
/ lagging
Cut in

• • Advantages
During compression much of the energy applied is converted to heat // This heat of
compression adds energy and produces a resultant rise in pressure // This is in
addition to the pressure rise expected from the action of the piston // However,
when the air cools, the pressure rise due to the heat generated is lost and only the
pressure from compression remains // The extra pressure rise due to the heat is of
no use and actually demands extra power for the upward movement of the piston //
Multistage air compressor units are fitted with intercooler and aftercooler to provide
the nearest possible approach to the ideal isothermal compression
1. Work reduce. // 2.. Vol. efficiency. // 3. Approx. Isothermal Comp. // 4. Reduce
Size. // 5. Reduce air Temp. // 6. Facilitates moisture separation // 7. Smaller
Reciever.
If water in air-
1. Lubricating Flim will be removed. – water cant be compress – Corrosion – Can block
the passage of accuator.

Rotary compressor
• Essentially consists of a casing, a centrally located shaft, an eccentric
rotor mounted on the shaft, a spring backed sealing blade and suction
& discharge ports
• As the eccentric rotor rotates, a variation in volume of the suction and
discharge ports occurs and this induces the pumping action
• These chambers are separated by a spring backed sealing blade
• Various stages of pumping take place when the rotor is at positions 0°,
90°, 180° & 270° as shown