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Maintenance, Health & Safety

Guide to Combined Screw Air Compressors: Benefits and Features

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Compressor is defined as a mechanical device that is widely used in industries as a vital operating implement. They deliver the compressed air required to operate the pneumatic instruments, spray paints, clean the parts and much more.

Screw air compressors are one type of rotary compressor or the most common type of rotary air compressor that is most favored due to its features such as reliability, low maintenance, and low noise level.

In reading this article, it will help you to understand when a combined screw compressor will be valuable to your business by explaining the fundamentals of the tool and its advantages.

Combined Screw Air Compressors Operating Function

Twin aero-derivative screw compressors employ two screws for compressing air within an enclosed environment. When air is drawn into the compressor, the screws change their position and start to compress the air by enclosing it between them, thus reducing its volume progressively.

This compression makes the air to heat up because this is the effect of having pressure applied to it. Oil is injected to cool up the screws, seal clearances and to perform the lubrication function in the compression process.

With centrifugal force, the rotors decrease the volume of the gap between them and gradually compress the air trapped. The compressed air is then released through the end of the casing or through the exhaust port. Almost all screw compressors also contain integrated volumetric efficiency control, which enables the user to control the flow rate of the compressor in an air compressor factory.

How Combined Screw Air Compressors Works?

The compressed air process in a combined screw air compressor involves taking ambient air and channeling it to the suction side of the compressor. This is made possible by having one of the rotors spinning faster than the other creating a minute clearance on the inlet side of the rotors.

From here the air gets lodged in the space between the rotor lobes and travels through the compressor as the two screws mesh. As the rotation continues the air pockets get confined and therefore the pressure increases.

At the last, the air after being compressed by the screws is released from the compressor into a storage tank or pipeline and discharged at pressure ranges between 75 to 500 psi.

Compressor rotors are typically designed to have a minimal friction and wear, and are coated. Special timing gears are used to ensure that the lobes remain together when rotating so that they do not come into contact with each other.

For lubrication and cooling, oil is injected directly into the compression chamber This method is also more efficient since the lubrication and cooling are done within the combustion chamber hence reducing the overall cycle time.

The oil gets atomised and a good seal around rotors and casing in order to enhance the volumetric efficiency. In applications, combined screw air compressors are commonly water or air-cooled depending on the environment temperature. There are general facts about the rotary screw compressors that includes; The normal rotatory speed of most rotary screw compressors is between 1,000 and 10,000 rpm.

Advantages of Screw Air Compressors Systems

Following are the some advantages of screw compressor system:

1. High reliability and durability

While selecting screw compressors, it is possible to incorporate the use of aero-derivative screws that can withstand thousands of operational hours without a hitch. They are very simple in construction and the use of the rollers or journal bearings. This leads to equipment with the mean time between failures which is up to 5 times greater than for piston compressors. You will actually end up paying less for maintenance and repairs.

2. Energy efficiency

The twin screw design in this case is efficient in using less energy to effect more complete compression as compared to the piston compressors. Interconnected screw models provide a better synergy that slow-speed timing gears offer. Variable speed drives also conserve energy because the amount of air supplied matches the demand.

In addition to that, there are certain advantages when it comes to the combined screw compressors and one of them is that they have one of the lowest costs of ownership among all the compressor types.

3. Quiet operation

Enclosed screw sets as well as Direct Drive Transmissions generate relatively low levels of noise, of about 60-80 dBA. Enclosures can even lower the levels of sound to 55dBA. It also ensures that due to the low noise level, it is easy to install the combined screw compressors directly on the manufacturing floor.

4. Compact size

The recent models of combined screw compressors incorporate a compact design that does not include an off-bolt connection and is directly driven. This facilitates easy packing of major components such as motors, coolers, separators among others into a single unit or full housing. This is perfect when floorspace is an issue and when the equipment is to be used in a crowded environment.

5. Low maintenance

The oil separation systems are very effective in most combined screw compressors and therefore their oil is changed after about 8,000 hours or more. Additional reduction of maintenance is due to automatic monitoring and lubrication systems.

This simple design typically only involves checking and changing various readily expendable components such as filters. In summary, screw compressor maintenance requirements are only 0. 5 times those of other piston alternatives.

Conclusion

Combined screw air compressors manufacturers provide you the complete solutions in terms of performance, efficiency and reliability. This type of design works at slow speed and is also suitable for operations that demand high compression ratios while having low impact on the compressor’s durability.

Additional control systems, namely monitoring and lubrication also cuts down maintenance significantly. They are particularly useful for high flow air requirements, low noise and energy consumption as the Combined screw models should meet most industrial air demands.

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    Phil Black - PII Editor

    I'm the Editor here at Process Industry Informer, where I have worked for the past 17 years. Please feel free to join in with the conversation, or register for our weekly E-newsletter and bi-monthly magazine here: https://www.processindustryinformer.com/magazine-registration. I look forward to hearing from you!
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