Modern compressors are small gems of technology, increasingly miniaturized and powerful, they have become very accessible to individuals. Before, to obtain a power of 8 bars, a much larger machine was needed, often thermal or requiring enormous electrical power that only professionals could use.

So how does a compressor work and what do they do?

Compressor piston operation

Air compressors work on a very simple principle, when the air is compressed its volume decreases while the pressure increases, thus obtaining pressurized air stored in the compressor.

The most collective way of doing this use to be with the help of a reciprocating piston, this happens to be the kind most often used in the domain of compressors. If you are familiar with how a combustion engine works internally, you will easily understand how a very similar piston compressor works.

Each reciprocating compressor has a crankshaft, a connecting rod, a piston, a cylinder, and a valve head. For the whole working mechanism, energy is needed. You must visit website of fluidairedynamics and go through the details.

Air compressors happen to betypically powered by gas or electricity based on the model. Most pf the compressors also have a reservoir which use to be there to store compressed air to uphold stable air pressure and make use of it for longer.

At the top of each compression cylinder there is a valve head which contains both an air inlet valve (suction valve) and an exhaust valve (discharge valve). These open and close at regular intervals and are located on top of the valve plate. As the plunger moves down inside the barrel, a vacuum is created in the space above the plunger like pulling the plunger of a syringe.

Double piston

Double piston compressors are also very common. They work the same as their single piston counterparts. The only real difference is that there are two hits per turn and not one. The most common version of a twin-piston compressor is a 2-stage system that uses one piston for pumping air into a second cylinder which use to create more pressure.

Lubrication

Another important thing to know about air compressors is how they are greased. You will come by terms such as “oil-free pump”, or “oil lubricated”. Oil lubricated pumps have an oil bath that lubricates the bearing and walls inside the cylinder. The air and oil are separated using the piston rings, but they are not foolproof so there will be a few mixing of oil and air at times which can be troublesome if using the compressor to apply paint.