MEO Class IV - GEK

Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

This exam guide contains model questions similar to the ones you would answer in the written
examination. Our aim is to equip you on important subject areas. Answers provided are in the
form of cues and bulleted list to enable easy recollection.

Questions

1. Make an outline sketch of a typical main air compressor high pressure

relief valve and state
a. What material is each component made of?
b. Why does it need correct setting with respect to the main air receiver safety valve?

2. Sketch and describe an air compressor suction ilter.

3. Sketch and describe a multistage air compressor piston?

4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the single coil type and the straight tube type
of intercooler for air compressor? Why are the tubes and coils generally made of copper?

5. Briely describe the most common form of air compressor inter coolers,and state and how
they are arranged?

6. Explain why inter coolers are itted to air compressors. How often are they tested and how is
this done? Is it possible to run such a compressor without an inter cooler, and what would be
its effect?
 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

Q 1.a.
Make an outline sketch of a typical main air compressor high pressure
relief valve and state what material is each component made of?

The high pressure relief valve is itted at the delivery side of the high pressure stage. The
relief valve will lift when the pressure increases more than 10% of the designed working
limit and release the excess air, thereby reducing the pressure.

Spring sleeve

Spring

Spindle

Spring seat

Setting collar

Valve

Valve seat

Relief valve

The relief valve setting can be adjusted by tightening or slackening the adjusting nut, which
increases or decreases the spring tension. The spring exerts the force on the valve and
keeps it on top of the valve seat. The air pressure acts on the bottom of the valve against
the spring pressure. When air pressure increases above the set value, which is usually 10%
above the design pressure, the valve is lifted off its seat against the spring force and excess
air is released.
 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

The valve body is made of cast iron. The valve and valve seat should be made of a
material resistant to corrosion and erosion. The compressed air contains moisture and as it
lows, it tends to erode weaker materials.

The spring is normally made of low alloy medium carbon steel with high yield strength.
Silicon is the main alloying component of spring steel. Tempering is usually carried out after
hardening.

Valve seat is made of 0.4% carbon steel. The working surfaces are hardened and polished

Valve is made of nickel steel, chrome vanadium steel or stainless steel. They are usually
hardened and ground to mirror inish.

Q 1.b.
Make an outline sketch of a typical main air compressor high pressure
relief valve and state Why does it need correct setting with respect to the
main air receiver safety valve?

A The pressure at the high pressure stage delivery will always be higher than the air bottle
pressure when the compressor is running. When the compressor is not running, the non-
return valve between the air receiver and the compressor will not allow the air bottle
pressure to act on the relief valve.

The relief valves are provided at each stage delivery to maintain the air pressure at
not more than 10% of the designed working pressure. This prevents the compressor
components from getting over pressurized and getting damaged, due to any restriction on
the delivery side .

The high pressure stage relief valve is set lower than the air receiver safety valve set
pressure. This is because the relief valve on the HP stage should irst lift itself, giving an
indication that pressure rise is high.

The air receiver pressure is sensed by a pressure switch, which cuts off the compressor
when pressure reaches the set limit. If it is operated manually then the operator will be
near the air bottle to switch off the compressor when the pressure reaches the limit.

The safety valve at the air bottle is provided to release the pressure, when the pressure
increases above the set limit. This can happen only if the air receiver pressure switch and
relief valve malfunctions. In the event of a engine room ire also, the air receiver pressure
can increase.
 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

Q 2.
Sketch and describe an air compressor suction ilter.

A The dry type of ilter has a iltering media of either felted cloth or paper, the latter usually
being slightly oil coated This type of ilter is quite easy to use, although its strength is
questionable when it comes to machines with higher speed.

Air suction filter

A viscous impingement type ilter is usually of a cylindrical design with the iltering media
woven with copper wire or nylon strands. When cleaned they are dipped in oil and allowed to
drain before itting. This is because the oil coating traps the dirt. This type of ilter is also
acceptable for oil free units like control air compressors.

Nylon mesh is preferred as it is much more resilient than copper.

 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

Q 3.
Sketch and describe a multistage air compressor piston?

Compression
rings

Bush

Oil control
rings

Multistage air compressor piston

In a multistage air compressor, the air is compressed in two or three stages. The igure shows
a two stage double acting compressor piston. The high pressure stage piston and the low
pressure stage piston are connected in tandem. The low pressure stage piston is at the top
and it has a bigger cross section than the high pressure piston at the bottom.

The low pressure piston is lubricated by the cylinder lubricator through the lubricator quills
located at the LP stage cylinder. Only compression rings are itted on the LP piston. The high
pressure piston lubrication is controlled by the oil control rings itted on the piston .

The air is compressed in both the upward and downward strokes of the pistons. When the
piston moves up fresh air is compressed by the low pressure piston and the pressurised air
from the low pressure stage lows to the high pressure stage.

When the piston moves down, air is further compressed by the high pressure piston and fresh
air is inducted in the low pressure stage.

The piston is made of aluminium alloy and a bronze lined carbon steel bush is itted for the
gudgeon pin, which connects the connecting rod to the piston. The compression and oil control
rings are made of special cast iron.
 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

Q 4.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the single coil type and
the straight tube type of intercooler for air compressor? Why are the
tubes and coils generally made of copper?

A Tubes are generally made of copper because the thermal conductivity of copper is quite high.
Therefore, the heat conduction rate is a lot faster.

Straight tube coolers contain lot of straight tubes whereas in single coil type cooler a single
pipe is coiled.

With the single coil type, there is less likelihood of leakages as the thickness of the tube is
considerable, and they are usually itted with lead lined clips.

But the major disadvantage is that the coil is more dificult to clean and wears more rapidly
than the straight tubes.

Straight tube cooler is preferred over the other type of coolers as. It is easier to clean the
tubes than the single coil type.

The leaking tubes can be identiied and repaired easily by plugging the ends. The plugged
tube can remain in service till it is convenient to renew the tube stack.
 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

Q 5.
Briely describe the most common form of air compressor inter-coolers,
and state and how they are arranged?

Fixed valve plate Baffles / supports

Relief valve

Air inlet

Air outlet

Drain valve

Bursting disc
Cooling water

U tube Intercooler
The purpose of the intercooler is to reduce the temperature of the air discharged from the
irst stage, thus reducing the amount of work required to compress the air to the required
pressure.

The type shown is a two pass, U tube type cooler. The cooling water is directed through the
cooler via bafles to increase the heat transfer.

The tube plate is sealed between the inlet / outlet cover and the cooler body. The tubes are
free to move within the casing to allow for expansion. Bafles within the casing increase the heat
transfer by directing the water in a tortuous path and act as tube supports. A drain cock,
which may or may not act as an unloader, is provided at the lowest point on the cooler, on the
delivery side, to allow any moisture to be drained off. The air relief valves are often itted on
the inlet side of the air header. There must be some relief device incorporated in the water
side in case of tube failure.
 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

In straight tube intercoolers, expansion is allowed for by the use of a moveable tube plate. The
sealing is achieved by using either sealing rings or thin steel diaphragms. The advantages of
the straight tube type of cooler over the U tube type are that they are easier to clean, less
prone to fouling and offer less restriction to airlow.

End cover

Bursting disc Cooling water out

Casing
Baffles
(Cast Iron)

Cooling water in
Seal rings

End cover

Drain

Straight tube intercooler

It is important that the coolers are kept as clean as possible, so that the heat transfer is not
affected and the low through the compressor is not restricted.

Q 6.
Explain why inter-coolers are itted to air compressors. How often are they
tested and how is this done? Is it possible to run such a compressor without an
inter cooler, and what would be its effect?

A Intercoolers are itted in multistage compressors between the stages to reduce the delivery air
temperature from each stage. This reduces the work done on the air during compression.

As air leaves each stage of the compressor, air is cooled in the inter cooler. The reduction
of volume of air due to cooling before entering the next stage, lowers the work done in
compressing air.
 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

High pressure
stage Reduction in work done
due to intercooling
Pressure (P)

Intermediate
pressure stage

Low pressure stage

Volume (V)

When air is compressed at constant temperature by removing all the heat generated during
compression then it is called isothermal compression. The relationship between pressure and
volume is given by P x V = Constant.

When air is compressed without extracting any heat generated then it is called adiabatic
compression. The work required for adiabatic compression is more than the isothermal
compression. The relationship between the pressure and volumeis given by P x Vr = Constant,
where r = 1.4.

In practice, the compression occurs in between the adiabatic and isothermal compression and
is called polytropic compression where part of the heat generated is removed. The relationship
between the pressure and volume is given by P x Vn = Constant, where n lies between 1.0 and
1.4.

When air is cooled in between the stages the compression tends to approach isothermal
compression and work done in compressing the air is less. The value of ‘n’ depends on the
number of stages, the amount of intercooling between the stages, intercooler eficiency and
cooling water temperature.

The air temperatures are maintained at a lower temperature due to cooling. This increases the
volume of air compressed and delivered. The volumetric efficiency of the compressor increases
due to lower air temperatures.
 MEO Class IV - GEK
Reciprocating
Air Compressors Components Exam Guide

The lower air temperatures also improves the cylinder lubrication. The formation of deposits at
the valves due to oil burning is reduced.

The position of the intercooler in a multistage compressor depends on the design. If we

consider that the intercoolers can be bypassed, then the air temperatures will be high. The
effeciency of the compressor will decrease considerably. The luboil will burn due to the high
temperatures and the cylinder lubrication will be affected. The valves tend to get fouled
more with formation of deposits due to burning of oil. In extreme cases, the compressor
may explode as the air temperatures will cross more than the lash point of luboil. In general
multistage compressors designed to operate with intercoolers should not be operated without
cooling of air.

The intercoolers are cleaned, inspected and tested at intervals recommended by the
manufacturer.

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