To Be a Leader in Maritime Education and Training

• Learning Objective:Understand the air

compressor and reservoirs types, construction
and operation on board.
• Specific Learning Objectives:
• Explain the uses of compressed air onboard.
• State the compressor types that may be found
onboard.
• Explain the operation of single and multi-stage air
compressor
• Sketch and describe the inter and after cooling.
• Describe the air compressor components assembly
and materials.
• With the aid of diagram, explain the air reservoir
construction.
• Describe the safety features an air compressor.
• Describe the design features of air reservoir.
• Describe the safety features of air reservoir.

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AIR COMPRESSOR

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Introduction

• Air compressor is a thermal machine used for repeated

compression of gasses known as atmospheric air to
produce high-pressure air.

• Air is compressed of mainly 23% oxygen and 76% nitrogen

by mass along with small quantities of their gasses such as
carbon dioxide, argon, helium, neon and water vapour

• It is a main constituent of air near perfect gases; a mixture

of them will behave as a perfect gas, following Boyle and
Charles law. When air compressed its temperature and
pressure increase as it volume is reduced.

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• Compressed air is used onboard ship for a

number of purposes and at varying pressures
depending on that purpose.

– High-pressure air – 25 to 40 bar – for the starting and

reversing of diesel engines by two or three stage-
reciprocating units.
– Medium pressure air – 7 bar – for general service air,
deck air pneumatic systems, power positioners, servo
mechanisms and air puff soot blowers single or two stage-
reciprocating units.
– Medium/low pressure air – 4 and 5 bar – ‘pneu-press’ and
‘grinell sprinkler’ by single or two stage-reciprocating
units or by rotary vane units.
– Low-pressure air – 2 bar – pneumatic control systems by
single stage or rotary vane units
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Uses of Compressed Air

• Onboard merchant vessels, the compressed air is now

actually the lifeblood of the ship for various operations
ranging from diesel engine starting to cleaning purposes.
• On land itself, Air compressors of various designs are widely
used throughout facilities in numerous applications including
the operation of equipment and portable tools.
• However compressed air may divided into three different
uses as follow;
– Starting operation
– Controller
– General usage

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Starting operation
(average 25 to 40 Bar)
• Starting the compression ignition diesel engine required
total capacity normally 30 Bar or related to it requirement
with total capacity of the air bottle must generally be
sufficient to start 12 times consecutively of a reversible
engine and 6 time for non reversible engine.
• On generator starting air bottle system normally connected
to emergency air compressor driven by small engine or
manual operated
• Prior to starting and finished with engine, blow down or
blow true is taken to remove any condensate or residue in
cylinder through opened indicator cock in order to avoid
damage due to hydraulic lock

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Controller - Control Air

(region1.4 to 7 Bar)

• Pneumatically controlled controller or

instruments such as pressure, temperature,
level, speed, flow etc controller and valve
positional with working pressure usually fall into
the region1.4 to 7 Bar.

• This variety of pressure may be obtained by

using a small reducing valve or solenoid valve to
supply air at the correct value

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General usage
(4 to 7 Bar)
• Generally compressed air are used for any kind of tools which is
operated by compressed air to perform their duty such as drilling
machine, impact wrenches, hand grinder, lifting gear etc considered as
pneumatic tools.
• Some additional auxiliary or deck machinery operated by compressed
air such as Wilden pump, lifeboat davit etc
• Hydraulic jack for even tightening any of the studs now are commonly
used also use compressed air even some engine maker’s design fuel
injector testing using compressed air system to ensure the injectors
condition. Water Pressure Test too.
• A part from those usages, compressed air widely used for cleaning
purpose such as dust and cleaning at the narrow space in such
situation where brush and finger tips cannot be reach the place where
the cleaning should be made.
• Cleaning any dust from the electrical machinery e.g. alternator, motor
etc
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Requirements
• Two starting air compressors must be fitted, of sufficient
total capacity to meet the engine requirements.
– Each compressor must be able to press up air receiver from 15 to
25 bar in thirty minutes
– Two air receivers must be provided
– Total air receiver capacity is to be sufficient for twelve starts of
reversible engines and six stars for non-reversible engine
• Additional one diesel driven or hand operated (or if
possible both) emergency air compressor must be fitted to
start auxiliary engines of a “dead ship”
• Safety valves or preferably bursting discs must be fitted on
the cooling water casing to give ample relief of pressure,
should an air cooling tube burst
Cont.
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• Each compressor must have a safety valve designed so

that the accumulated pressure, with the outlet valve
closed, will not exceed 10% of the maximum working
pressure .
• The air compressor cylinders, covers, intercoolers and
after coolers are tested by hydraulic pressure to twice
their working pressure
• The casing of the inter cooler and after cooler is hydraulic
tested 1.5 times cooling water pressure. Thus for 4 Bar
cooling water pressure, the casing will be tested at 6 Bar
pressure
• A water separator or drain should be fitted on the air side
of each intercooler. The drain cock should be used at
regular intervals to prevent water from one stage being
carried into the following stages

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Chart of air compressor

AIR COMPRESSOR

INTERMITTENT CONTINUOUS
FLOW FLOW

Positive Displacement Dynamic Ejector

Reciprocating Rotary Radial flow Mixed flow Axial flow

Mechanical piston Sliding vane centrifugal Mixed flow Axial

Liquid ring
helical screw
straight lobe

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Classification
• Compressor can be classified according to the
principle of compression as follow;
– Positive displacement compressor
– Dynamic compressor
• In addition some of special designed compressor
are used for specific purpose further defined by:
– The number of compression stages
– Method of cooling (air, water, oil)
– Drive method (motor, engine, steam, other)
– How they are lubricated (oil, oil-free)
– Packaged or custom-built

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Multi stage compressors

• They are used for three reasons:
– By cooling between stages the air is
kept in a moderate temperature
range,
– By cooling between stages less work is
required to compress a given quantity
of air to a required pressure.
– Lubrication difficulties will be
minimised by keeping air
temperatures as low as possible.
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• Temperatures in excess of 200°C tend to

carbonise oil-leaving gum and carbon
deposits on piston rings and delivery valves.
This in turn leads to further problems and an
impairment of the efficiency of the machine.

• Rotary vane units are limited by gas slip

past the seals and a differential of about 7
bars per stage is about the limit.

• The capacity of an air compressor is

measured by the number of cubic metres of
free air discharged per minute.
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• The volumetric efficiency of an air

compressor is measured by the
number of cubic metres of free air
discharged per minute compared with
the displacement of the LP piston in
cubic metres per minute. Modern air
compressors have a volumetric
efficiency of between 80 to 90%.

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Summary

• Uses of Compressed Air onboard.

• Compressor Types
• Operation of Single and Multi-stage
Air Compressor
• Components of Air Compressor
• Safety features an Air Compressor
and Air Reservoir.

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Thank You

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