The design, construction and testing of a rotary sliding-vane air compressor

Abstract

Compression of gas has one basic goal -- to deliver gas at a pressure higher than that originally existing. The original pressure level may vary from very low absolute pressures (fractions of a bar) to several hundred bars. The pressure rise may vary from fractions of a bar to many hundred bar and the volumes handled, from a few metre cubed per hour to hundreds of thousands. Compression is undertaken for a variety of purposes: 1. To transmit power, as in a compressed air system for operating pneumatic tools; 2. To provide air for combustion; 3. To transport and distribute gas, as in natural gas pipelines and city gas distribution systems; 4. To circulate a gas through a process or a system; 5. To produce conditions more conductive to chemical reaction; 6. To produce and maintain reduced pressure levels for many purposes, accomplished by removing from a system unwanted gases either leaking or flowing into the system or initially present.