Compressor (ME310)

INTRODUCTION: The content of this paper includes the compressor’s history. Its definition, types, functions and various applications are written in this paper. The compressor’s advanta ges and disadvantages is also discussed. HISTORY: The first air compressors weren’t machines, but human lungs: Primitive people blew on cinders to create a fire. We now know that healthy lungs can exert pressure of 0.02 to 0.08 bars. As people began to melt metals such as gold, copper, tin and lead, higher temperatures were needed, and a more powerful compressor was required. Egyptian and Sumerian metallurgists used the wind, then blowpipes for their work. The first mechanical compressor, the hand-operated bellows, emerged soon after, and in 1500 B.C. the more efficient foot bellows came into use. The discovery of the elasticity of air is attributed to Ctesibius, asis the invention of several devices using compressed air, including force pumps and an air- powered catapult. Ctesibius’ writings have not survived, and his inventions are known only from references to them by Vitruvius and Hero of Alexandria, but he laid the foundations for the engineering tradition that culminated in the works of Hero of Alexandria and of Philo of Byzantium. In 1762, John Smeaton, the first professional engineer, built a water wheel- driven blowing cylinder that began to replace the bellows. Inventor John Wilkinson introduced an efficient blasting machine in England in 1776; the machine was an early prototype for all mechanical compressors. SCOPE: Definition: Compressors are machines that compress air or gas. I t is a machine used to supply air or other gas at increased pressure, e.g., to power a gas turbine. Compression is achieved through the reduction of the volume that the gas (or air) occupies. As a side effect of the minimization of volume, the temperature of air or gas increases. Types: There are many compressor types. Different compressor types achieve different compression ratios. Moreover, the horsepower that different compressors can achieve varies from 1 to 2 HP (Horsepower), up to a few thousand HP. Some compressors require oil in order to operate while others do not. Reciprocating or Piston compressors are the most common machines available on the market. They are positive displacement compressors and can be found in ranges from fractional to very high horsepowers. Positive displacement air compressors work by filling an air chamber with air and then reducing the chamber’s volume (Reciprocating, Rotary

Compressor (ME310)

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