Compressor Glossary

• Tags: Compressor Glossary

A

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• Absolute Pressure  -  A pressure at absolute zero can only exist in a total vacuum and any pressure above this is called absolute pressure.
• Absolute Temperature  -  Is measured from the starting point of 0, where zero is the coldest theoretically attainable temperature in nature.  It is the lowest temperature possible and contains no heat energy in the substance.
• Actual Air  -  Air’s flow rate at a specified point and condition.
• Actual Capacity  -  Quantity of gas actually compressed and delivered to the discharge system at rated speed and under rated conditions.
• Adiabatic Compression  -  A process during which no heat is added or removed from the gas.
• Aftercooling  -  The cooling of gas in a heat exchanger following the completion of compression to reduce the temperature and liquefy condensable vapors.
• Air Dryer  -  A devise that removes moisture from compressed air.  Typically accomplished by cooling the air through a refrigerator or desiccant bed.
• Air Receiver  -  A tank into which the compressed air or gas is discharged from the compressor.  Receivers help to eliminate pulsations in the discharge line and also act as storage capacity during intervals when the demand exceeds the capacity of the compressor.
• Ambient Temperature  -  When outdoors the ambient temperature is the current surrounding environment air temperature.  This temperature has nothing to do with high or low forcasts.
• Atmospheric Pressure  -  The pressure exerted upon the earth's surface by the air because of the gravitational attraction of the earth.
• Avogadro's Law  -  When temperature and pressure are held constant, the volume of a gas is proportional to the number of moles of gas present.

B

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• Barometric Pressure  -  The absolute atmospheric pressure existing at the surface of the earth.  Is the weight of a unit column of air above the point of measurements.  It varies with altitude and, at any given location, with moisture content and weather.
• Beta Ratio  -  Efficiency measurement of a filter expressed by the number of particles, of a given size, upstream of the filter, divided by the number of particles of that size downstream of the filter.
• Butterfly Valve  -  A quarter turn valve (90° or less) with a circular disk as its closing element.s of gas present.

C

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• Check Valve  -  A valve that are designed to allow the process fluid to flow in only one direction to prevent backflow.
• Cleanable  -  A filter element which, when loaded, can be restored to an acceptable percentage of its original dirt capacity.
• Clearance  -  Is the volume contained in one end of the cylinder which is not swept by the movement of the piston.  It includes space between piston and head at the end of the compression stroke, space under the valves, etc., and is expressed as a percentage of the piston displacement per stroke.
• Coalescing Filter  -  A specific type of filter that not only works to remove dust and particles from the air, but also oil from the air lines.
• Compressed Air  -  Free air that has been pressed into a volume smaller than it normally occupies. As compressed air exerts pressure, it performs work when released and allowed to expand to its normal free state.
• Compressibility  -  Measures the change in volume under external forces for any liquid.
• Compression Efficiency  -  The ratio of work requirement to the actual work required to be done on a gas.  Efficiency accounts for leakage and fluid friction losses.
• Compression Ratio  -  The ratio of the maximum volume to the minimum volume in a cylinder.
• Condensate System  -  A device that removes enough oil and contaminants from condensate drains to allow the condensate to enter the sewage system.
• Critical Pressure  -  The highest temperature at which well defined liquid and vapor states exist.  It may be defined as the highest temperature at which it is possible to liquefy a gas by pressure alone.
• Critical Temperature  -  The highest possible temperature that liquid and vapor states can exist in, this is often defined as the highest temperature needed to liquefy gas solely using pressure.
• Cut-in Pressure  -  Minimum discharge pressure that, when reached, switches the compressor from unload to load operation.
• Cut-out Pressure  -  Maximum discharge pressure that, when reached, switches the compressor from load to unload operation.
• Cycle Time  -  Amount of time for a compressor to complete one cycle.

D

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• Degree of Intercooling  -  The difference in temperature between the inlet of the compressor and the outlet of the intercooler expressed as an inverse percentage.
• Deliquescent  -  Melting and becoming a liquid by absorbing moisture.
• Design Pressure  -  Maximum continuous operating pressure as designed by the manufacturer.
• Dew Point  -  The temperature at which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor.
• Discharge Pressure  -  The total gas pressure (static plus velocity) at the discharge flange of the compressor.  Velocity pressure usually is considered only with dynamic pressure.
• Discharge Temperature  -  The temperature at the discharge flange of the compressor.
• Drain Cock  -  This part releases the accumulated moisture from the compressor tank. It is typically associated with the valve that a user accesses to perform regular maintenance on the unit.
• Drain Valve  -   A device that removes surplus liquid from a compressed air system.
• Droop  -  The drop in pressure at the outlet of a pressure regulator, when a demand for air occurs.
• Dryer  -  Compressor tanks are made of steel, when water gets into the tank, the tank can rust thus reducing the life of the compressor.  A dryer dries the air in the tank, reducing the amount of water collected.
• Dual Cycle  -  Amount of time that a compressor can operate at full load over a thirty minute time  period.
• Dual Stage  -  A compressor where air is compressed from initial pressure to an intermediate pressure in one or more cylinders.
• Dynamic Compressor  -  The gas is first accelerated to high velocity, and then it passed through a diffuser.  The kinetic energy of the air is converted to pressure energy at the diffuser before it leaves through the outlet.

E

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• Environmental Contaminant  -  All material present in and around a compressor system, such as dust, air moisture, chemicals, and heat.

F

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• Filter Efficiency  -  The ability of a filter to remove specified contaminants under specified test conditions.  Expressed as a percentage of the quantity of test contaminant.
• Free Air  -  Air at atmospheric conditions at any specific location. since altitude, barometer and temperature may vary, this term does not mean air under uniform or standard condition.

G

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• Gas  -  A to be compressed to fit a confined space and expanded when released.

H

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• Heat  -  A form of energy that causes physical change in what is being heated.  The lack of heat is cold.
• Horsepower  -  A measure of power or the rate of doing work.
• Humidity  -  Has to do with the moisture or water vapor, in the atmosphere.
• Hysteresis  -  The time lag in responding to a demand for air from a pressure regulator.

I

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• Inducer  -  A curved inlet section of an impeller.
• Inlet Pressure  -  Pressure at the intake to the compressor.  Usually expressed as absolute pressure.
• Inlet Temperature  -  The temperature at the inlet flange of the compressor or inlet filter.
• Inlet Throttle  -  A compressor control mechanism designed to control output to meet plant demands.
• Instrument Air  -  Used in a facility to operate valves and certain types of pumps.  Pneumatic actuators rely on instrument air for operation.  Some types of modulating valves require instrument air for throttling.
• Intercooling  -  Removal of heat of compression between stages of a multi-stage compressor.  Stage 1 - reduce the temperature,  Stage 2 - reduce the volume to be compressed in the succeeding stage, Stage 3 - liquefy condensable vapors, and Stage 4 - save power.
• Isenttopic Compression  -  A reversible adiabatic compression.  During isentropic compression the pressure, volume and temperature of the gas all vary.
• Isothermal Compression  -  A process during which the temperature of the gas is held constant.  As the requires continuous removal of heat during compression, this process is not practical.  Isothermal formulas are of little use except on theoretical applications.

J

K

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• Kick-in Pressure  -  Factory set low pressure point of the pressure switch that starts the compressor to re-pressurize the tank to a higher pressure.
• Kick-out Pressure  -  Factory set high pressure point of the pressure switch that stops the compressor from increasing the pressure in the tank above a certain level.

L

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• Leak  -  An unintended loss of compressed air to ambient conditions.
• Load Factor  -  The ratio of the average compressor load during a given period of time to the maximum rated load of the compressor.
• Load Time  -  The time it takes for a compressor to go from load to unload.
• Low Oil Shutoff  -  A feature which shuts off the engine if it runs low on oil, preventing damage or failure.
• Lubricator  -  A device designed to add lubricant into an air line.

M

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• Mechanical Efficiency  -  The ratio of theoretical power the pump needs to operate to the actual power delivered to the pump itself.
• Membrane Dryer  -  Water vapor and some compressed air permeate the membrane walls and vent to atmosphere.
• Modulating Control  -  System that adapts to varying demand by throttling the compressor inlet proportionally to demand.
• Moisture Separator  -  A device designed to collect and remove moisture from the air during the cooling process.
• Multi-stage Compressor  -  Compressors having two or more stages operating in series.

N

O

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• Oil Free Compressor  -  Air compressor that has no oil inserted into the compression chamber for lubrication, cooling or sealing.  Typically used in the medical and food processing field.

P

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• Perfect Intercooling  -  When the temperature of air leaving the intercooler is equal to the temperature at the intake of the compressor.
• Piston Displacement  -  The net volume displaced by the piston at rated machine speed.  For single‐action double‐acting cylinders, it is the total of both ends.  For multistage compressors, the displacement of the first stage only is commonly stated as that of the entire machine.
• Polytropic Compression  -  Process during which change in gas characteristics are considered.  This is the normal compression cycle of dynamic units.
• Pressure  -  The force exerted perpendicular to the surface of an object and is expressed as force per unit area.
• Pressure Dew Point  -  The temperature at which moisture begins to condense in a compressed air system.
• Pressure Discharge  -  The absolute total pressure at the discharge flange of a compressor.
• Pressure Loss  -  The difference in pressure between two points, usually caused by friction resistance in the pipe, but moisture can also affect it.
• Pressure Relief Valve  -  A valve used to protect vessels and tanks from overpressure.
• Pressure Vessel  -  They can used for storage of high pressure gas, gas scrubbers, two and three phase separators and other functions.
• Purging  -  Refers to the elimination of unwanted or undesirable liquid, gas, or air from the compressor system.

Q

R

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• Receiver  -  Tanks used for the storage of air discharged from compressors.  They serve also to damp discharge line pulsation.
• Reciprocating Compressor  -  Uses a crankshaft driven piston and cylinder to compress the air.  Primarily used in field gas compression and have a very large range of capacity and horsepower characteristics.
• Relative Humidity  -  A measure of the amount of moisture in the air with respect to the temperature.
• Reynolds Number  -  Measures the ratio of inertial forces (forces that remain at rest or in uniform motion) to viscosity forces (the resistance to flow).
• Rotary Compressor  -  Compression system that includes a pair of matching helical screws.

S

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• Seal  -  Devices used between rotating and stationary parts to separate, and minimize leakage between areas of unequal pressures.
• Shaft  -  The part by which energy is transmitted from the prime mover through the elements mounted on it, to the air or gas being compressed.
• Single Acting Compressor  -  Machines in which compression takes place on one stroke per revolution in each compressing element.
• Single Stage Compressor  -  A compressor in which the air is compressed from initial pressure to final pressure in one step.
• Specific Gravity  -  The density or ratio of any substance to another substance.  It sometimes may be called just gravity or relative density.
• Specific Heat  -  The amount of energy required to increase one gram of a substance by 1 degree celsius.
• Specific Humidity  -  The weight of water vapor in an air-vapor mixture per unit weight of dry air.
• Sole Plate  -  A pad, usually metallic and embedded in concrete, on which the compressor and driver are mounted.
• Stage  -  A series of steps in the compression of air or a gas.
• Static Pressure  -  The difference in air pressure between the suction side and pressure side of a blower.  The higher the static pressure or resistance, the more energy it takes to move air through the object.
• Super Compressibility Factor  -  A factor expressing deviation of a gas from perfect gas laws.  For practical purposes, at the pressures and temperatures normally encountered in air compressors, air can be considered to follow the perfect gas laws.
• Surge  -  A phenomenon in centrifugal compressors where a reduced flow rate results in a flow reversal and unstable operation.
• Surge Limit  -  The capacity in a dynamic compressor below which operation becomes unstable.

T

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• Temperature  -  Normally described as the amount of heat or cold, but it is neither heat or cold.  Temperature is expressed as a number that is related to energy and porportional to a type of energy, but it is not energy.
• Thermal Compressor  -  An ejector used to compress waste or exhaust steam or any other gas through a moderate range of compression above atmospheric pressure.
• Theoretical Power  -  The power required to compress a gas isothermally through a specified range of pressures.

U

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• Unload  -  The air compressor runs at full speed but no air is delivered because the inlet is closed.
• Unloaded Horsepower  -  The power consumed to overcome frictional losses when operating in an unloaded condition.

V

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• Vacuum  -  A contained space having little or no matter or a volume having a pressure lower than the outside atmospheric pressure.
• Volumetric Efficiency  -  The ratio in percent of the actual delivered capacity (measured at inlet temperature, pressure and gas composition) to the piston displacement.
• Volute  -  A stationary, spiral shaped passage which converts velocity head to pressure in a flowing stream of air or gas.

W

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• Water Cooled Compressor  -  Machines cooled by water circulated through jackets surrounding the cylinders or casings.
• Work  -  An action done or applied force on an object that displaces the object.  If the applied force is straight down there is no work done. But if the applied force is at an angle the displacement will take more force.

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