International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 4, Issue-10, Oct.

-2016

THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF GAS COMPRESSOR

1
NISHAD DHARAM RAJ, 2MIRZA SHUJATHULLAH, 3MELAPUNDI DINESH, 4PATLOLA VARUN
REDDY
1,2,3,4
Methodist College of Engineering, VJIT College of Engineering
E-mail: 1dharam09797@gmail.com, 3mldinesh0@gmail.com

Abstract— This study focuses on the thermodynamic analysis of the compressor. A gas compressor is a device in which
work is done on the gas to raise its pressure, with an appreciable increase in density. The compression of the gases is an
important process in many power plants, refrigeration plants, and industrial plants. Industrial users occur in connection with
compressed air motors for tools, air brakes for vehicle, servo mechanism, metallurgical and chemical processes, conveying
of materials through ducts, transporting of natural gas, and production of bottled gases.

Keywords— Thermodynamic analysis, Single stage reciprocating compressor, Volumetric efficiency, Multistage air
compressor.

I. INTRODUCTION required will be less than for adiabatic compression.

Another advantage of cooling is the reduction in
Air compressor is a machine that is capable of volume of gas and less pipe friction losses. Since
converting electric power into kinematic energy cooling during the compression process is not very
specifically by utilizing compressed air. When the air effective, after coolers are often used to cool then gas
is released in quick burst it releases an amount of leaving the compressor.
kinetic energy that can be harnessed for a number of
purposes including pneumatic device activation, air III. WORK OF COMPRESSION
transfer and cleaning operations.
The steady flow energy equation for a compressor
gives
h1 + Q = h 2 + Wx (1)
Neglecting the changes of potential and kinetic
energy. From the property relation
Tds = dh – vdp (2)
For a reversible process

(3)

Air compressor work in two phases i.e. the

compression operation and the release operation.
There are multiple methods of compressing air,
including reciprocating piston, rotary screws and
centrifugal compression. Let us consider two particular idealized cases,
namely, reversible adiabatic and irreversible
II. COMPRESSION PROCESS isothermal, as well as general cases of reversible
polytrophic process. The paths of such processes are
A gas compression process may be either adiabatic or plotted in Fig-2 for ideal gas separated from state 1 to
involving heat transfer, depending upon the purpose state 2.
for which the gas is compressed. If the compressed
gas is to be used promptly in an engine or in a
combustion process, adiabatic compression is
desirable so as to obtain the maximum energy in the
gas at the end of compression. In many applications,
however , the gas is not used promptly but is stored in
tank or receiver for use later when needed. The gas in
the tank transfer heat to surroundings so that when Fig-2 reversible compression process
finally used it is at room temperature. In such cases From eq-2 and eq-3 for adiabatic compression of unit
the objectives of the compression and storage process mass
is simply to increase the pressure of gas without
change of temperature. It will be shown below that if (4)
the gas is cooled during compression, the work For reversible adiabatic process

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International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 4, Issue-10, Oct.-2016

pressure at the inlet valve opens and air is drawn into

the cylinder for the remainder of stroke.
Stroke-2 (c-a): The piston moves inward,
compressing the air in the cylinder, and the inlet
valve closes when the cylinder pressure reaches
atmospheric pressure. Further compression follows as
the piston moves toward the top of its stroke until,
when the pressure in the cylinder is more than that in
the receiver for the remainder of the stroke.
The total area of the indicator diagram represents the
The work of compression or steady flow work input actual work of the compressor on the gas or air. The
to the gas is the negative of the shaft work Wx, i.e. area above p2 and p1 represents the work done
for reversible adiabatic compression, because of pressure drop through the valve and port

Similarly for reversible polytropic compression

For reversible isothermal compression of ideal gas,

In the p-v plot of Fig-2 the work of compression for

each type of process is represented by area between
the path of that process and the axis of pressure. For
the general process is shown below
lnp + n lv = lnc
On differentiating, Fig-3 Arrangement of single-stage reciprocating air
compressor
Passage, this work is called valve loss. The idealized
The efficiency of a compressor working in a steady machines is to which the actual machine is compared
flow process may be defined as has an indicator diagram Fig-4 both expansion and
compression are supposed to follow the same
polytropic law. The small quantity of high pressure
Where Wc is the shaft work applied to the air in the clearance volume expands to Va and air
compressor per unit mass. For idealized reversible drawn in during the suction stroke is Vb – Va from
isothermal process the compressor efficiency is diagram.
defined as

For an adiabatic machine the work of compressor is

equal to the enthalpy rise of gas
Wc = h2 + h1
Then for adiabatic compressor the efficiency is

IV. SINGLE STAGE RECIPROCATING AIR Fig-4 Indicator diagram

COMPRESSOR Work done on the air during the cycle = Enclosed
area abcd= Area of dcfh + Area of cbef + Area of
Fig-3 shows the arrangement of a single stage hgad + Area geba
reciprocating air compressor, together with a typical
indicator diagram. The compressor operates on a two
stroke cycle as follows Work done/cycle =
Stroke-1 (a-c): The piston withdraws, causing the air
in the clearance volume to expand and when the
pressure in the cylinder falls below the atmospheric

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The above equation is same as obtained from the For air compressors, the prescribed inlet condition are
steady flow energy equation where the clearance often atmospheric conditions in which the volume of
volume is neglected. Thus the mass of gas in the air induced is often called free air delivery. If the
clearance volume does not have any effect on the ambient air is at pressure pa and temperature Ta then
work of compression. the volumetric efficiency

V. VOLUMETRIC EFFICIENCY

The amount of air dealt with in a given time by an air

compressor is often referred to at free conditions, i.e. For given pressure ratio volumetric efficiency is zero
the temperature and pressure of the environment, when the maximum clearance is
which may be taken as 15C and 101.325 kpa, if not
mentioned. It is known as free air delivery(FAD). The
ratio of the actual volume of gas taken into the
cylinder during suction stroke to the piston
displacement(PD) volume or the swept volume(Vs)
of the piston is called the volumetric efficiency, or VI. MULTI STAGE COMPRESSION

When compressing a gas to high pressure it is

advantageous to do it in stages. The condition for
minimum work requires the compression to be
Where m is the mass flow rate of the gas and V1 is isothermal. Since the temperature after compression
the specific volume of the gas at inlet to the is given by
compressor. With reference to Fig-5

the delivery temperature, T2 increases with the

pressure ratio. Also the volumetric efficiency is given
by eq-5 decreases as the pressure ratio increases, as
mentioned earlier.
The volumetric efficiency can be improved by
carrying out the compression in two stages. After the
stages of compression from the state p1, T1 to the
state px, Tx the fluid is passed into a cylinder in
which the gas is compressed to the required final
Fig-5 Volumetric efficiency pressure p2 at temperature T2 (Fig-7)

Let C= clearance= (clearance volume )/Vs

Since

Fig-7 Plan showing intercooler between compressor

stages
The gas after being compressed in low pressure
cylinder (a-b) is passed on to an intercooler for
(5)
getting cooled. After leaving the intercooler the gas
Equation 5 is plotted in the Fig-6. Since (p2/p1) is
enters the high pressure cylinder for further
always greater than unity, it is evident that the
compression (c-d). Fig-8 shows the p-v diagram for
volumetric efficiency decreases as the clearance
two stage compression. Complete or perfect
increases and as the pressure ratio increases.
intercooling (b-c) means that the exiting gas from the
intercooler at temperature Tx is cooled completely to
the original temperature T1.

Fig-6 Effect of clearance on volumetric efficiency Fig-8 p-v and T-s diagram for two stage compression
with perfect intercooling, showing the work saved

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International Journal of Mechanical And Production Engineering, ISSN: 2320-2092, Volume- 4, Issue-10, Oct.-2016

Similarly perfect aftercooling makes the gas, leaving compressors are used for various applications. Air
the high pressure compressor, cooled also to the inlet compressors are one of the major sources of energy
temperature T1, this aftercooling reduces the volume consumption in industry. In present scenario the
of gas leaving, and thus the size of receiver becomes important of energy conservation is increasing day by
smaller. The clearance volume in both the cylinder day so it is important to improve the efficiency of air
has here been assumed to be the same. compressor. As a result we carried out the
thermodynamic analysis of the air compressor. It was
VII. APPLICATIONS OF COMPRESSOR found that the performance and the efficiency depend
on the clearance volume.
 Operating tool in factory
 Operating drills and hammers REFERENCE
 Excavation
[1] https://www.irjet.net/archives/V2/i5/IRJET-V2I5193.pdf
 Tunneling and mining [2] https://www1.eere.energy.gov/manufacturing/tech_assista
 Stating diesel engine nce/pdfs/compressed_air_sourcebook.pdf
 Operating brakes on busses, trucks and [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_compressor
trains [4] http://users.sussex.ac.uk/~tafb8/design05_06/lec2_air_com
pressor.pdf
 Inflation of tiers in automobile. [5] https://beeindia.gov.in/sites/default/files/3Ch3.pdf
[6] http://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/43/42384.pdf
COCLUSION [7] “Energy Efficiency in Air Compressors”,N.C.Department
of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of
Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance,
Air compressors are used as versatile tool throughout January 2004
the industries for a variety of purpose. Air

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