Reciprocating compressor how does it work

Cylinder head and crank end head : The ends of your reciprocating compressor cylinder have cylinder heads and crank end head. The top cylinder head may have a liquid jacket for cooling off the cylinder. This is normally made from a steel forging and connects the piston or the crosshead to the crankshaft. If you have a smaller capacity reciprocating compressor, you can see that the piston is linked directly to the crankshaft by the connecting rod.

However, this arrangement induces a sidewise force on the piston due to the movement of the connecting rod. This sidewise force can be tolerated when your reciprocating compressor is small, however, in the case of a bigger size compressor, this force can cause high wear on the piston and increase overall friction inside the engine.

To overcome the above issues, a crosshead is introduced in between. A crosshead is a machined casting sliding between its guides; the crosshead is connected to the crankshaft through a connecting rod and converts the rotary motion of the crankshaft to reciprocation motion. The other end of the crosshead is connected to the piston through the piston rod and makes the piston reciprocate. The crankshaft of the compressor is made from steel forging. This is driven by an electric motor or an internal combustion engine and converts the rotary motion to the reciprocating motion.

The crankshaft will have counterweights to keep it dynamically balanced due to the eccentric movement and runs in plain journal bearings. A flywheel is mounted on the other end of the crankshaft for providing mechanical advantage and also helps the manual movement of the piston when the motor is detached during maintenance work. Compared to other types of compressors, reciprocating compressors run at relatively low speed, and the drive can be either through a belt or direct.

There can be a variable speed drive controller between the electric motor and the reciprocating compressor. The distance piece separates the cylinder of the reciprocating compressor from the compressor frame. There are two types of valves in a reciprocating compressor, a suction valve and a discharge valve. The suction and discharge valves are spring-loaded, one-way valves viz.

The reciprocating compressor has many moving parts viz. They are lubricated normally by the oil and can be done by splash lubrication or using an oil pump. A reciprocating compressor with pressure lubrication normally has a higher or continuous duty cycle and the pump forces the oil into the connecting rod to lubricate all the key parts of the compressor. This causes the air to be trapped inside while the volume is reduced, increasing the pressure. When the pressure is enough to open the discharge valve, then the air goes out at the higher pressure.

Single-acting recip compressors only have valves on top of the cylinder, so there is one compression cycle for every turn of the crankshaft. One of the reasons is that they are inexpensive when compared to the other technologies.

Also, they are great for intermittent duty cycles. Compared to a rotary screw, they usually have less maintenance and are easy and simple to maintain. It makes them a great choice when your compressed air use is below CFM, and you need 40 psi or more.

Double-act ing recip compressor are similar to single-acting, but they have inlet and discharge valves on both sides of the cylinder. This gives you two compression cycles for every turn of the crankshaft. You rarely see one under hp. Back in the days, they used to be called earth-movers, because being around one felt like you were in an earthquake.

These used to be the workhorses in manufacturing plants, but in the last years that role was taken over by rotary screw compressors. The diaphragm compressor is similar to the single-acting recip. The difference is that instead of a piston moving inside a cylinder, the piston moves a diaphragm that contracts and expands.

However, this technology is very popular for other types of media. Because they are the most common ones in the recip category, the rest of this blog post will be about them.

Some of the material is applicable to the other technologies, and some may not be. Often recip compressors have multiple stages. This is not to be confused with multiple cylinders. A compressor can multiple cylinders, but only be one stage. A multiple-stage compressor pumps up the air to one pressure, and then uses another cylinder with a smaller diameter to pump to a higher pressure.

The single-acting reciprocating air compressor has only a single side of the piston and it is used for compression of air and another side is connected to the crankcase and it is not used for compression.

In the double-acting type of reciprocating compressor, the sides of the piston are used for compression of air. On the one side, there is suction and compression takes place on the other side. Both the suction and compression take place on every stroke of the piston. The single-stage reciprocating air compressor, the compression of air takes place in a single cylinder. In this, the air sucks from the atmosphere are first stroke and in the second stroke, it compresses the air and delivers it to the storage tank.

In the double stage air compressor, the compression takes place in two stages. In the first stage, the air is compressed in one cylinder and after that, it transferred to the second cylinder for the next compression.

And in the end, the compressed air is stored in a tank. This is the information about a reciprocating compressor, how does a compressor work and what is a compressor.

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If you like this post, let us know by comment below, if you want to add-on information about this topic, comment the information. As the pistons draw back, gas is injected from an intake valve in the compressor.

This gas is injected into the cylinders of the pistons, and is then compressed by the reciprocating action of the pistons. The gas is then discharged either to be used immediately by a pneumatic machine, or stored in compressed air tanks. However, the gas must be stored or used directly from the compressor to prevent it from losing its pressurization.

In addition to his work for Demand Studios, Scott spends much of his time writing poetry and a novel. How Does a Reciprocating Compressor Work? Basics of a Compressor A compressor increases the pressure of a gas.