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What Is A Gas Compressor

A gas compressor increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. There are two main types of gas compressors: positive displacement compressors and dynamic compressors. Positive displacement compressors include reciprocating piston compressors and rotary screw compressors. Reciprocating compressors use pistons to compress gas in cylinders, while rotary screw compressors use counter-rotating screws. Dynamic compressors include centrifugal and axial compressors, which impart velocity to gas and convert velocity energy to pressure energy. Turboexpander compressors use gas expansion to power a compressor. PV diagrams graph pressure versus volume and can be used to calculate work from thermodynamic cycles.

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209 views

What Is A Gas Compressor

A gas compressor increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. There are two main types of gas compressors: positive displacement compressors and dynamic compressors. Positive displacement compressors include reciprocating piston compressors and rotary screw compressors. Reciprocating compressors use pistons to compress gas in cylinders, while rotary screw compressors use counter-rotating screws. Dynamic compressors include centrifugal and axial compressors, which impart velocity to gas and convert velocity energy to pressure energy. Turboexpander compressors use gas expansion to power a compressor. PV diagrams graph pressure versus volume and can be used to calculate work from thermodynamic cycles.

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I AM NOT CHINESE
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What is a gas compressor?

A gas compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by


reducing its volume. Compressors are prime movers of gas and air in process industries. They
are used to increase static pressure of the gas and deliver it at specified pressure and flow rate
in a process application. Use of compressed gas can be found in numerous applications. The
simplest being use of compressed air for various purpose to critical compressed gas
requirements in Process industries.
Compressors are similar to pumps, both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can
transport the fluid through a pipe. As gases are compressible, the compressor also reduces the
volume of gas. Liquids are relatively incompressible, so the main action of a pump is to
transport liquids

Positive Displacement Compressors


In all positive displacement machines, a certain inlet volume of gas is confined in a given
space and subsequently compressed by reducing this confined space or volume. At this
elevated pressure, the gas is next expelled into the discharge piping or vessel system.

Although positive displacement compressors include a wide spectrum of configurations and


geometries, the most important process machines are piston compressors and helical screw
rotating machines. Although there are a number of others, including diaphragm and sliding vane
compressors, the overwhelming majority of significant process gas-positive displacement
machines are clearly reciprocating piston and twin helical screw-rotating or rotary screw
machines.
Reciprocating Compressors
The reciprocating or piston compressor is a positive displacement compressor that uses the
movement of a piston within a cylinder to move gas from one pressure level to another (higher)
pressure level.

Reciprocating compressors types include the following:


 Simple single-cylinder- As single cylinder has one suction, compression and discharge
area. Double acting cylinder designs have two suction, compression and discharge
areas.
 Multi-cylinder- Some reciprocating compressors can have up to six cylinders. Pistons
connected to crankshaft are utilized to compress the gas.
 Multi-stage design- Multi stage compression stages take the vapor and compress it
several times in a series of compression cylinders in order to increase the pressure.

Rotary Compressors
The screw compressor is a positive displacement machine and as such has distinct working
phases: suction, compression and discharge. Two counter rotating helical screws are arranged
in a compressor casing; gas inlet and discharge nozzles are at opposite ends.

Rotary screw compressors are very likely the equipment of choice for either oil-free or oil-
wetted compression of air in mining, construction, industrial refrigeration, or a host of other
applications where their relative simplicity, general reliability, and high availability are
appreciated. Rotary screw compressors are equally suited to compress process gases.

Dynamic Compressors
Dynamic compressors are based on the principle of imparting velocity to a gas stream and then
converting this velocity energy into pressure energy. These compressors are frequently called
turbo compressors, and centrifugal machines comprise perhaps 80% or more of dynamic
compressors. The remaining 20% or less is axial flow machines intended for higher-flow, lower-
pressure applications.

Centrifugal Compressors
The centrifugal compressor is a dynamic machine that achieves compression by applying
inertial forces to the gas (acceleration, deceleration, and turning) by means of rotating impellers.
The centrifugal compressor is made up of one (single stage) or more stages (multi-stage), each
stage consisting of an impeller and a diffuser. The impeller is the rotating element and the
diffuser is the stationary element.
Both single and multistage machines are generally made up of
standardized components.

Axial Flow Compressors


Axial-flow compressors can handle large flow volumes in relatively
small casings and with favorable power requirements. Pressure range
for axial compressor is low to medium.
Figure below shows axial flow compressor set.

Turboexpander Compressor Assembly

A Turboexpander, also referred to as an expansion turbine, is a


centrifugal or axial, flow turbine through which a high pressure gas is
expanded to produce work that is used to drive a compressor.
The term “Turboexpander”, as shown in figure below, is
normally used to define an Expander/Compressor
machine as a single unit. It consists of two primary
components; the
Radial Inflow Expansion Turbine and a Centrifugal
(Booster) Compressor combined as an assembly.
Its wheels are connected on a single Shaft. The
expansion turbine is the power unit and the
Compressor is the driven unit.
In a Gas Processing Plant, the purpose of
the Turboexpander is to efficiently perform two
distinctly different, but complimentary, functions in
a single machine. The primary function is to efficiently generate refrigeration in the process gas
stream. This is done at the Expansion Turbine end by efficiently extracting the potential heat
energy from the gas stream, causing it to cool dramatically. This extracted energy is converted
to mechanical energy to rotate the Shaft of the Booster Compressor end of the Turboexpander,
which partially recompresses the residue gas stream. Figure below shows a turbo expander
compressor set.
PV Diagram
A PV diagram plots the change in pressure P with respect to volume V for some process or
processes. Typically in thermodynamics, the set of processes forms a cycle, so that upon
completion of the cycle there has been no net change in state of the system; i.e. the device
returns to the starting pressure and volume.
The figure shows the features of a typical PV diagram. A series of numbered states (1 through
4) are noted. The path between each state consists of some process (A through D) which alters
the pressure or volume of the system (or both).

A key feature of the diagram is that the amount of energy expended or received by the system
as work can be estimated as the area under the curve on the chart. For a cyclic diagram, the net
work is that enclosed by the curve. In the example given in the figure, the processes 1-2-3
produce a work output, but processes from 3-4-1 require a smaller energy input to return to the
starting position / state; thus the net work is the difference between the two.
Note that this figure is highly idealized, and a diagram showing the processes in a real device
would tend to depict a more complex shape of the PV curve.

Thermodynamics
PV diagrams can be used to estimate the net work performed by a thermodynamic cycle. The
net work is the area enclosed by the PV curve in the diagram. This usage derived from the
development of indicator diagrams which were used to estimate the performance of a steam
engine. Specifically, the diagram records the pressure of steam versus the volume of steam in
a cylinder, throughout a piston's cycle of motion in a steam engine. The diagram enables
calculation of the work performed and thus can provide a measure of the power produced by the
engine.
To exactly calculate the work done by the system it is necessary to calculate the integral of the
pressure with respect to volume. One can often quickly calculate this using the PV diagram as it
is simply the area enclosed by the cycle.
Note that in some cases specific volume will be plotted on the x-axis instead of volume, in which
case the area under the curve represents work per unit mass of the working fluid (i.e. J/kg).

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