Chapter 15
Reciprocating Air Compressors
Reciprocating Air Compressor
Compression Ratios
A reciprocating engine sees the piston traveling through two extremes namely the top dead
center (tdc) and the bottom dead center (bdc).
TDC – The piston is at the top of its travel
BDC – The piston is at the bottom of its travel
Operation of Engine:
The air enters the cylinder during the suction stroke at the start of the compression stroke
The volume in the chamber is at a maximum, which is a combination of the swept, and
clearance volumes.
Swept volume (Vs) is the volume swept through by the piston on a single stroke
Clearance volume (Vc) Volume between the piston crown and the cylinder head.
At the end of the compression stroke, the volume is at a relatively small volume, which
equals Vc.
The compression ration by definition is the ratio of the maximum
and minimum volumes of the compression stroke.
max volume
r
min volume
V s Vc
r
Vc
The compression ratio is a function of the cylinder area as well as
the length the piston has to travel.
Bore (cylinder diameter)
Stroke (Length)
Swept volume now becomes:
V s area x bore
d 2
L
4
IDEAL INDICATOR DIAGRAMS (P-V DIAGRAMS)
Neglecting clearance:
Volume of air V1 into compressor at
pressure P1 and temperature T1
Air is compressed according to the
law PVn = c from pressure P1 to P2.
The volume decreases from V1 to V2.
The temperature increases from T1 to
T2.
Compressed air of volume V2 and at
pressure P2 with temperature T2
delivered from compressor.
NB: During the compression, air will
transfer some heat to the
surroundings thus the index n is
The work done is equivalent to the area under the graph:
Including clearance:
1 Cylinder is full of intake air, the volume is V1,
and the piston is about to commence it’s
compression stroke
1-2 Air is compressed polytropically according
to the law pVn = C to a delivery pressure P2
and volume V2
2 The delivery valve theoretically opens
2-3 Compressed air is delivered from the
cylinder
3 Piston has reached the end of the inward
stroke. V3 is the clearance volume
3-4 Expansion of residual compressed air
according to the law pVn = C NB: V1 –V4 is
The work done is equivalent to the area under the graph:
Since
T2 T3 and
T1 T4 also
P4 P1 and
P3 P2
We see that
Isothermal Efficiency
The comparison between the actual work done during compression and the ideal
isothermal work done.
where
P2
Wiso p1V1 ln neglecting clearance
P1
and
P2
Wiso p1 (V1 V4 ) ln including clearance
P1
Example 15.1
A single-acting, single-cylinder air compressor has cylinder dimensions of 200mm
bore and 300mm stroke. The speed is 250rpm. The pressure and temperature of the
air at the end of the suction stroke is 96.5kPa and 29.5oC, and the pressure after
compression is 620kPa. The value of the polytropic index n=1.25. Neglecting
clearance, determine:
a. the polytropic power
b. the isothermal power
c. the isothermal efficiency For air take R = 287J/kg.K
Student Example 1:
A single cylinder, single acting reciprocating air compressor compresses 45m3 air per
hour from 120kPa and 320 C to a delivery pressure of 900kPa, according to the law
pV1.3 = c. Neglecting clearance:
1. Sketch the pV diagram
2. Determine the isothermal efficiency
Mechanical Efficiency
The actual work input to a compressor is larger than the indicated (polytropic) work
due to the work having to overcome losses due to friction.
Example 15.2
A single-cylinder, double-acting air compressor is required to deliver 14m 3 of air per
minute measured at 101.3kPa and 15oC. The delivery pressure is 700kPa and the
speed 300rpm. Take the clearance volume as 5% of the swept volume. For the
compression and expansion, n =1.3. Calculate:
a. The swept volume of the cylinder and hence the cylinder bore and stroke, given that
the stroke to bore ratio is 1.5:1
b. The delivery temperature
c. The indicated power
d. The power of the motor required to drive the compressor if the mechanical efficiency
of the compressor is 85%
VOLUMETRIC EFFICIENCY
After delivery, the high pressure air left in the clearance volume of the compressor has to
expand to the intake pressure before any “new” air can be sucked in. This reduces the induced
volume to a value less than that of the swept volume.
Free air is the volume of air delivered measured at the conditions of pressure and temperature
just outside the inlet valve.
Example 15.3
A single acting air compressor takes in air at a pressure of 96kPa and 32 oC. the air is
compressed to a pressure of 725kPa and delivered to a receiver. The clearance
volume of the compressor is 5% of the swept volume and both compression and
expansion processes may be of the form pV1.3 = constant. Determine the volumetric
efficiency of the compressor if the free air conditions are 101.3kPa and 19oC.
MULTI-STAGE COMPRESSION
When air is to be compressed to a very high pressure it is customary to build the
compressor with a low-pressure cylinder, followed by one or several high-pressure
cylinders. As the air passes from one cylinder of one stage to that of the next, it flows
through an intercooler where it is cooled at constant pressure to the initial suction
temperature. Such staging reduces the work required for compression and the cost of
the mechanical construction, especially in larger units.
For two-stage compression, the following holds true:
Total work required = Wstage 1 + Wstage 2
The intermediate pressure Pi is the only variation, so for the work to be a minimum, we
differentiate with respect to Pi and equate it to zero:
𝑃𝑖 = ඥ𝑃1 𝑥𝑃2
or
Which is the condition for minimum work
For a two stage process:
Example 15.4
A two stage, single acting compressor takes in air at the rate of 0.2m3/s. Intake
pressure and temperature are 100kPa and 16oC respectively. The air is compressed
to final pressure of 700kPa. The compression index is 1.25 and the compressor runs
at 600rpm. Neglecting clearance, determine:
a. The intermediate pressure
b. The indicated power
