Air compressors

Precautions

• Risk assessment
• Tool box meeting
• Onsight briefing
• LOTO: Equipment isolation
• Adequate man power
• Permits
 Uses of compressed air

25 – 30 bar
Starting of main & auxiliary engines
 Boiler soot blowing

4 – 7 bar
Service air
Whistle air
Pneumatic tools
Life boat, pilot ladder

1.5 – 2 bar
 Instrumentation & control
 Installation Requirements

Compressors
Minimum 2 or more compressors
Sufficient capacity to charge air receivers within 1 hour from atm. to max.
pressure to provide
6 starts for non reversible engine
12 starts for reversible engine
1 emergency air compressor & receiver for dead ship condition
COMPRESSED AIR SYSTEM
Air Receiver
 Air Receiver
Size depends on engine requirements

Should have sufficient capacity to give

12 consecutive starts for reversible engine
6 consecutive starts for non reversible engine

Fabricated from good quality mild steel with UTS 500 MN/m2 with an
elongation of not less than 23% to 25%
having one longitudinal welded seam
welded hemispherical dish at the ends with elliptical manhole door

Must be cleaned internally & coated with paint or copal varnish

Fitted with necessary mountings

 Installation Requirements

Air Receivers
At least 2 air receivers with sufficient capacity without replenishment and able
to provide
6 starts for non reversible engine
12 starts for reversible engine
 Installation Requirements

Pressure Relief devices

Relief v/v to be fitted after each stage of compression
Relief v/v to be fitted on the air receiver
Relief v/v or bursting disc to be fitted on inter & after coolers

Air Temperature
Limited to 93’C to prevent explosion
Fusible plug or high temp cut out provided as safety measure
 Installation Requirements

Pressure Test
Cylinders, cylinder covers, inter & after coolers are tested by hydraulic
pressure to twice their working pressure.
Casing of intercooler and after cooler is hydraulically tested to 1.5 times the
cooling water pressure
 Air compression Theory
Nearly perfect gas, as air is composed of mainly 23% oxygen and 77% nitrogen & rest

other gases by mass

Mixture of gases behave as near as perfect gases

Follows perfect gas laws – Boyle’s and Charles’ laws

During compression
Volume reduces
Pressure & temperature increases
Mass remains constant

Air follows the combination of gas laws:

PV = mRT; PV / T = mR = Constant
 Types of Compression
Isothermal compression (PV = C)
 no rise in temp during compression
 heat is removed during compression
 least power input & most efficient
 difficult to achieve in practice

Adiabatic/Isentropic compr. (PV1.4 = C)

no heat removed & temp. rises progressively during compression
power input is max. & efficiency is low

Polytropic compression (PV1.3 = C)

actual compression process in practice
heat is extracted during compression
lies between isothermal and isentropic compression
work done to compress air is reduced
 Theoretical P-V Diagram
4-1 Air induction
1-2 Air compression
2-3 Air delivery
3-4 Expansion of
remaining air
Vc Clearance vol.
Vs Swept vol (V1 – Vc)
VI Induced vol (V1 – V4)
Vol eff. = Induced vol/Swept vol
Compr. ratio = V1/ V2 = P2 / P1
 Actual P-V Diagram
Similar to ideal except induction & del.
process
Which are modified by v/v action
Waviness of the lines 4-1 and 2-3 is due to
v/v bounce
v/v inertia
spring action
variation in back pressure
 Multistage Compression
As the pressure increases, more stages are required with intercooling due to following disadvantages of single
stage compression:

Low volumetric efficiency

As pressure ratio P2 / P1 is increased, vol efficiency drops

High air delivery temperature

Increase in pressure ratio results in higher delivery temp. causing
excess coke deposits
thermal stress
Lubrication problem
Explosion hazard
Increased power input
Inter-stage cooling lowers the work done in compressing air

Number of stages is governed by the required final pressure of the

compressed air.
 Multistage Compression
Applied when delivery press. is high
Compression is carried out in stages
Ensures equal rise in temp in each stages to
prevent v/vs & springs damage
Requires minimum work; shaded area indicates
the wok saved
If stage pressures are P1, P2 & P3, P4
P2 =  P1 . P3 & P3 =  P2 . P4
 Multistaging & Intercooling
Advantages:
• Compression work is reduced
• Vol efficiency and hence compressor capacity is increased
• It approximates isothermal compression
• Vol of air delivered is reduced; as a result reduced size of cylinder, piston and
delivery pipes is required
• Reduced air delivery temp gives less thermal &mechanical loading and better
lubrication of piston & cylinder
• Due to less temp, suc & del valves remain clean
• Facilitates moisture separation
• Use of intercooler allows smaller receiver
 Volumetric Efficiency

It is the relationship between the Qty. of air discharged

and the swept volume.
vol. of air discharged as free air
Vol. efficiency =
swept vol. of L.P. piston

Free air is air at atm. press and at 15 deg C

Vol. eff. always refer to low pressure piston

 Clearance Volume

To provide for thermal expansion and prevent the piston from

striking cylinder cover, a small clearance, called bumping
clearance is maintained between cylinder cover & piston

Bumping clearance must be as small as possible

High bumping clearance reduces vol effn. of compressor
Reduces compressor capacity & increases disch air temp.
Bumping clearance is effected by bearing wear & gasket thickness
Low bumping clearance can cause mechanical damage
Bumping clearance must be checked after overhauling
Clearance volume is about 6% of swept volume
 Factors affecting volumetric efficiency

Clearance volume - gaskets , bearing wear down

Valves – dirty, leaky, spring tension
Leakage past piston rings
Insufficient cooling water due to dirty coolers
High cooling water temp.
High air inlet temp.
Throttling of air intake due to
Dirty intake filter
Insufficient suction v/v lift
Strong suction v/v spring
Bumping clearance
• The space between top of piston with piston in tdc and
cylinder head.
• At the end of compression, before the delivery valve
opens, the HP air is trapped in this area. The suction of
fresh air will take place only if this pressure drops
below atmospheric pressure which will be due to
expansion of this trapped air. This causes effective loss
of stroke and volumetric efficiency drops.
 Bumping clearance

Effects of less clearance Effect of large clearance

Piston hitting against cylinder head
Retarded formation of vacuum on the suction
stroke and thus less air drawn inside and thus
reduction in volumetric efficiency.
Compressor running for longer time to build
same amount of pressure.
 Bumping clearance

• Why does bumping clearance change?

• How to check bumping clearance?

• How to adjust the clearance?

• What should be bumping clearance?

Basic diagram
Two Stage Compressor- Side by Side Piston typ
Two Stage Compressor Tandem Piston type
V type
 Components

Air Filter
Material – felt or paper, metal gauze or nylon strands

Remove contaminant to prevent

abrasive wear of piston rings, valves
deposit on valves casing source of ignition

Very dirty filter will cause

Reduction in suction pressure
Increase in compression ratio
Increase in discharge temperature may cause coke deposit
Less air flow and danger of overheating coke deposits
In extreme case disch. temp.may exceed auto ignition temp of LO, resulting in an explosion
 Components

Suction & Delivery Valves

Low inertia automatic valves which operate on low diff pressure
Material used for
Valve seat – 0.4% carbon steel hardened & polished surface
Valve plate – Nickel or stainless steel hardened & polished
Spring – tempered hardened steel
Usually of same type, only differences are
spring load and the valve lift
Excessive lift causes impact & v/v breakage
Late closing of v/v affects volumetric efficiency
Coke deposits make v/vs
leaky & sticky
causing overheating
reduce vol. efficiency
 Piston

Trunk type piston is used in single acting compressor

Tandem piston is used in multistage compact design

Aluminium alloy material is used for

good friction properties
high strength with low coeff. of thermal expansion

Piston rings material is alloyed cast iron

HP piston rings are made thicker

 Components
Bearings
Thin shell type in modern compressor
Requires L.O. pressure above 2 bar
Conventional thick shell can run even at 1.0 bar
Crankshaft
Usually forged carbon steel integral with counter weight
Cast steel being fatigue prone is not used
 Inter-cooler & After-cooler
Multi Tubular

Copper tubes expanded in brass tube plates with

allowance for expansion of tube nest

Cast iron casing with bursting disc, to protect against

sudden over pressure

Drain pocket to remove moisture

Relief v/v to protect against over pressure on air side

In case of tube leakage, leaky tube is plugged /

replaced
 Inter-cooler & After-cooler
Single Coil Type

A single long copper coil is used

Casing is protected by bursting disc

in case of coil leakage, complete

replacement of coil is required
 Drain Trap
Provided to drain off water & oil automatically from compressed air system

Water must be drained at each stage to prevent

Removal of oil film from cylinder wall, assisting wear of liner and piston ring
Corrosion to form iron oxide, assisting degradation of oil

Requires regular inspection

 Unloader
Prevents compressor to start on load

Some of many methods to unload compressor cylinder

• throttling of suction
• speed variation
• by-pass discharge to suction
• depression to hold suction v/v plates on their seats

Last two methods are most widely used in marine compressors.

Unloader
 Pneumatic Drain valve , Unloader

It drains at
zero
Holder
pressure
Body from
Seat operating
air
Valve

Bellows For unloading condition,

control air must be cut
off
Guard

Cover
 Unloader
Suction Valve Depression

Fitted on each stage suction valves

Actuated by solenoid or pilot air

Fluid distribution
diagram

compressor
Solenoid valve, Unloader/ drain

Operates for
15 sec Operates
every 10 min
Symbols Symbols
 Maintenance

The below maintenance schedule are not fixed and will vary from different
manufacturers

New installation:

Check the oil condition and clean sump thoroughly

 Daily inspection

Lube oil level

All temperatures and pressures
Vibration and any abnormal sound
Current drawn
 1000 hours routines

LO replacement
Valve overhauls
Couplings inspection
All bolts and nuts, vibration dampers
Safety valve test
Suction filter
 5000 hours routines

All checks of 1000 hours

Coolers cleaning
Inspection of piston and replacement of parts as necessary
Replacement of HP and LP valves as specified by the
maker.
Operational Problems of Air Compressor

Drop of compressor capacity / pressure

Choking of air filter
Valves leaking
Increased bumping clearance
Leaky piston rings
Worn crank pin or journal bearing
Leaky cooler / breakdown of cooler
L.O. contamination
Fire and explosion
 Inadequate delivery pressure

PROBABLE CAUSES REMEDY

Dirty, damaged, worn valves  Clean and check all valve plates,
springs, gaskets. Replace
defective parts
Stuck piston rings  Replace piston rings

Clogged filter  Replace/ clean

Air leaks  Arrest/ rectify

 Safety valve lifting

PROBABLE CAUSES REMEDY

Discharge side restriction Check discharge valve:
closed or blockage
Compressor not stopping at Adjust compressor cut off
attained pressure

HP valve leaking Replace/ overhaul HP valve

Defective safety valve Replace/ overhaul safety

valve
 Valves require maintenance frequently

PROBABLE CAUSES REMEDY

Overheating High ambient temperature

Intake air quality Dirty intake of air.

Dirty cooler tubes Clean coolers

 Bearings: Hot running ,noise

PROBABLE CAUSES REMEDY

Damaged/ worn bearings Replace

Uneven wear LO issues/ crankshaft

straightness
LO quality Deteoration due to over use/
contamination
 Frothing in sump

PROBABLE CAUSES REMEDY

Blow past Worn piston rings/ liner

Water contamination Identify the source and rectify

leak
Trial run checks: Trail run checks

Oil in Sump at sight glass should be visible

Direction of rotation by brief start stop method.
Oil pressure 0.35 to 0.55 Mpa
Running in : with drain at reservoir open, for no load checks, run the
compressor for 30 minutes.
Checks for abnormal sound or heat or vibration, etc
Function check of LO pressure, high temp, Auto start stop switches, etc.
Vertical 2 stage reciprocating water cooled,
Forced lubrication type

Total 30 parts to identify:

 High Suction Filter
pressure Cylinder
safety head
valve

Drain
separator

HP
valve
delivery Suction
HP HP
valve
cover

Oil level
Filter gauge
Piston rings
12 and 15
 LP valve suction and discharge
LP Piston
ring

Bush Tandem
Piston
piston pin

HP
Piston
ring

Connecting rod
 Reassembly of valves
Proper use of torque
wrench with
specified torque
as mentioned in
the manual.

Special tools
to hold the
valves on vise
Cooling water
Coolingpump volute
water pump type:
volute type

Oil
Lock Key Shaft
Ball
bearing Seal
Nut

Cover

Casing

Impeller
 FW Piping diagram

compressor
 Spares

Piston rings
Valve assembly
O-ring
Bearing
Con rod bolts
Relief valve springs
Cooling water relief
valve
END OF TOPIC