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Compressors 1
Compressors 1
RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS
There are various compressor designs:
Rotary vane; Centrifugal & Axial flow (typically used on gas
turbines); Lobe (Roots blowers), and Reciprocating.
The main advantages of the reciprocating compressor are that
it can achieve high pressure ratios (but at comparatively low
mass flow rates) and is relatively cheap.
It is a piston and cylinder device with (automatic) spring
controlled inlet and exhaust valves. Delivery is usually to a
receiver. The receiver is effectively a store of energy used to
drive (eg) compressed air tools.
Receiver
Delivery
TDC BDC
Inlet
Clearance vol.
Swept vol.
2
Reciprocating compressors usually compress air but are also
used in refrigeration where they compress a superheated
vapour (to which the gas laws strictly do not apply).
In order to be practical there is a clearance between the piston
crown and the top of the cylinder. Air 'trapped' in this clearance
volume is never delivered, it expands as the piston moves
back and limits the volume of fresh air which can be induced
to a value less than the swept volume.
The induced volume flow is an important purchasing
parameter. It is called the "Free Air Delivery" (FAD), and it
measures the capacity of a compressor in terms of the air flow
it can handle. It is normally measured at standard sea level
(SSL) atmospheric conditions and allows the capacities (size)
of compressors to be compared.
N.B. The induced mass per cycle must equal the delivered
mass per cycle (continuity!), although the induced and
delivered volumes will be different.
3
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
4 1 Induction
1 2 Compression
2 3 Delivery
3 4 Expansion
Cycle Analysis
The cycle may be analysed as two non-flow (compression and
expansion) processes and two flow processes (delivery and
induction)
PROCESS GROSS WORK
p2 V2 - p1 V1
n-1
p2 (V2 -V3 )
p4 V4 - p3 V3
n-1
p1 (V4 -V1 )
Note that we assume polytropic compression and expansion.
This is because some degree of cooling is usually attempted
for reasons we shall see later.
If no cooling were attempted n becomes g .
On p-V co-ordinates:
1
2 3
4
p
r
e
s
s
u
r
e
(
k
P
a
)
Volume (litres)
4
The work per cycle is given by: gross work
p2 V2 - p1 V1
n-1
p2 (V2 -V3 )
p4 V4 - p3 V3
n-1
p1 (V4 -V1 )
work per cycle =
+ + +
p4 V4 - p1 V1
n-1
p2 V2 - p3 V3
n-1
p1 (V4 -V1 ) p2 (V2 -V3 )
p1 (V4 -V1 )
n-1
p1 (V4 -V1 )
p2 (V2 -V3 )
n-1
p2 (V2 -V3 )
p1 (V4 -V1 ) {1+ } + p2 (V2 -V3 ){1+ }
1
n-1
1
n-1
but mass delivered = mass induced
p1 (V1 -V4 )
RT1
p2 (V2 -V3 )
RT2
=
p2 (V2 -V3 )
p1 (V1 -V4 )
T2
T1
p1 (V1 -V4 ) { } [ -1]
n
n-1
T2
T1
for a polytropic process :
T2
T1
p2
p1
n-1
n
= ( ) = rp
n-1
n
=
Noting that (V1 -V4 ) is the induced volume (Vind ), and p1 is the
inlet pressure (pin ) we may re-arrange and write:
work per cycle = pin Vind { rp -1}
n
n-1
n-1
n
work per cycle =
+
+ +
=
but p1 =p4 & p 2 =p3
work per cycle = + +
+
=
\
NB Power required = work per cycle x cycles per sec
5
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 10 20 30 40 50
Volumetric Efficiency
The reference conditions (p & T) at which the volumetric
efficiency is measured should always be quoted (it would
normally be SSL conditions).
[The concept of h vol applies also to reciprocating engines.]
We have already noted that the induced volume is less than
the swept volume. To enable this effect to be evaluated we
define volumetric efficiency (h vol) as:
h vol =
Induced volume
Swept volume
V1 -V4
Vs
=
but p3 V3 = p 4 V4
n n
\ V4 = V3 rp
1
n
V3 is the clearance volume (Vc), and V1 = Vc + Vs
h vol =
Vc + Vs - Vc rp
Vs
1
n
\
h vol = 1 - ( r p - 1 )
Vc
Vs
1
n
h vol
rp
= 0.05
n = 1.27
Vc
Vs
6
Volumetric Efficiency referred to SSL conditions.
In testing a compressor, the measured induced volume flow
will be that of the actual test inlet conditions.
It is unlikely that these inlet conditions will be SSL.
We therefore need to refer our results to SSL conditions.
SSL
Inlet >>
Ts
Ps
Ti
Pi
The mass flow of gas must be the same both at SSL (s)
conditions and at Inlet (i) conditions.
ms = mi
psVs
RTs
piVi
RTi
=
Vs
pi Ts
ps Ti
= Vi
dividing both sides by Vswept
h vol(SSL) = h vol(inlet)
pi Ts
ps Ti
. .
.
.
. .
.
(Measured)
.
Vi
.
7
0
50
100
150
200
250
1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4
Compressor Efficiency
If we plot the specific work (kJ/kg delivered) against the
polytropic index n we obtain:
w = RTin { rp -1}
n
n-1
n-1
n
w
kJ/kg
n
r p =4
rp =
8
I
s
o
t
h
e
r
m
a
l
c
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
o
n
A
d
i
a
b
a
t
i
c
c
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
o
n
or rp1 = r p2 =
p2
p1
( )