5TH UNIT

1. (a) Define volumetric efficiency of a compressor and derive an expression to find it in terms of
clearance ratio and pressure ratio. (b) A single stage single cylinder compressor having
clearance ratio 5%, bore diameter 15 cm and stroke length 20 cm running at 720 rpm
compresses air from 1 bar to 6 bar. Assuming air enters at 27 and index of compression and
expansion . Determine: (i) Mass of air entering per sec. (ii) Power required to run it.
2. (a) Describe with a neat sketch the construction and working of a single-stage single acting
reciprocating air compressor. (b) What is a rotary compressor? How are rotary compressors
classified?
3. A single-acting two-stage air compressor deals with 4 m3/min of air under atmospheric
conditions of 1.016 Bar and 150C with a speed of 250 rpm. The delivery pressure is 78.65 Bar.
Assume complete intercooling. Find the minimum power required, bore and stroke of the
compressor. Assume a piston speed of 3 m/s, mechanical efficiency of 75% and volumetric
efficiency of 80% per stage. Assume the polytropic index (n) of compression in both stages is
1.25 and neglect clearance.
4. (a) What are the differences between rotary air compressor and reciprocating air compressor?
(b) A single stage single acting reciprocating compressor delivers 15 m3 of free air per minute,
from 1 bar to 8 bar. The speed of the compressor is 300 rpm. If the clearance is 1/16 th of the
swept volume, determine the diameter and stroke of the compressor. Take stroke to diameter
ratio as 1.5 and compression index as 1.3.
5. Derive an expression for work done in a two stage reciprocating air compressor with and
without inter cooling. Also derive the condition for minimum work required for the same.
6. A single acting reciprocating compressor having L/D ratio = 1.5 has the cylinder diameter of 200
mm runs at 100 rpm. The compressor compresses air at 1 bar, 300 K to a pressure of 8 bar
according to the law pv1.25 = constant. Find the indicated power of the compressor, mass of air
delivered, temperature of air delivered. Also calculate power required to drive the compressor if
mechanical efficiency is 80%.
7. (a) What do you understand by degree of reaction? (b) An axial flow compressor, with
compression ratio as 5, draws air at 20 C delivers it at 50 C. Assuming 50% degree of reaction;
find the velocity of flow if the blade velocity is 100 m/s. Also find the number of stages. Take
work factor = 0.85, =10 , =40 and Cp=1 kJ/kg K.
8. (a) Explain the phenomenon stalling in the compressors. (b) A multi stage axial flow
compressor stage has a mean diameter of 500 mm and runs at 12500 rpm. Mass flow rate
through the compressor is 50 kg/s. Determine the power required to drive the compressor and
degree of reaction if the air angle is 15o. The vane angle at inlet and exit are equal to 32o and
25o respectively.
9. (a) Differentiate reciprocating and rotary air compressors. (b) A vane type compressor handles
air of 0.75 m3/s at 1.2 bar and compresses to 3.4 bar. There occurs 30% reduction in volume
before the back flow occurs. Determine the indicated power required and isentropic efficiency.
10. (a) What do you understand from degree of reaction? (b) An axial flow compressor with
compression ratio of 1.4 draws in air at 22oC. The compression process is approximated as an
isentropic process. The stagnation condition at this stage is 300 K, the blade velocity being 200
m/s. Draw the velocity triangles for an air angle of 20o and determine vane angles. Also
calculate the degree of reaction.