RECIPROCATING COMPRESSOR

I. WHAT IS A RECIPROCATING COMPRESSOR?

 Reciprocating compressors are positive-displacement devices that work on a

reciprocating principle in order to deliver gas at high-pressures.
 In a reciprocating compressor, a volume of gas is drawn into a cylinder, it is
trapped, and compressed by pistonand then discharged into the discharge line. The
cylinder valves control the flow of gas through the cylinder.
 The reciprocating compressor can be of

Single acting: A single-acting reciprocating compressor has a set of valves at the top

Double acting: The double-acting reciprocating compressor has two sets of valves, one
each at the top and the bottom of the cylinder
Single-stage (single or multi-cylinder): Air is sucked into the cylinder. The trapped air is
compressed with the piston. Then the air moves to the storage tank

Double stage (multi-cylinder) compressor: Air is sucked into the cylinder. The trapped air
is compressed with the piston. Then the air is pushed to a second smaller piston for a
second stroke. Then the pressurized air is cooled with our after coolers and sent to the
tank

II. RECIPROCATING COMPRESSOR PARTS

1. CYLINDERS
 Cylinders are pressure vessels that contain the gas that is to be compressed, and as
such, they are one of the most important components of a reciprocating compressor.
 In large low-pressure cylinders, these parts are made up of cast iron and are removable
from the major frame.
 The function of cylinders in reciprocating compressors is to cool the temperature of the
machine during its compression cycle which tends to generate heat.
 Hình 1. 1. Cylinders

V engine

opposed engine
2. Piston

 The piston is responsible for the translation of energy to the gas in the cylinder from
the crankcase.
 To avoid leakage, the piston is often equipped with sliding self-lubricating seals, also
known as piston rings. These rings also help to avoid wear and increase efficiencies
through the reduction of friction force.

3. Piston rod
 Threaded through the piston, the piston rod is responsible for transmitting the
reciprocating crosshead into the piston. This component is traditionally manufactured
out of alloy steel

Piston rod

4. ROD PACKING

 Similar to the piston rod, rod packing is essential to as it is passed through the
cylinder and crank closure. Where a cooling pack is needed, stuffing boxes may be
jacketed for liquid coolant.
 . These main types are:
 Backup ring: This type of ring is used to backup all the rings when using in the
high-pressure application
 Pressure Breaker for Radial ring: The radial ring is the first ring of road packing to
face the cylinder pressure.
 Tangent ring: If wear occurs in the tangent ring, the garter spring will tighten the
ring segments to compensate for the wear.
5. CRANKSHAFT

The crankshaft is the part of the engine that converts the reciprocating motion of the
piston into rotation

Trục khuỷu (đỏ), piston (xám) trong xi lanh (xanh)

Hình 1. 2. Crankshaft
6. BEARING
 They ensure other components in the compressor are properly positioned radially and
axially.
 An instance is that of the main bearings which are fixed in the frame to ensure that the
crankshaft is well fitted.

7. CONNECTING ROD

Purpose of the connecting rod is to connect the crankshaft and the crosshead. The
connecting rod converts the rotary motion into reciprocating motion

8. CROSS HEAD

 Each and every industrial-grade reciprocating compressor comes completed with a

Crosshead.
 This component is used to guide pistons into the cylinder bore. Due to this, it permits a
greater capacity and longer strength while allowing a heightened control of oil
carryover into the cylinder.

9. VALVE

One of the most essential reciprocating compressor parts are the gas-actuated, spring-
located valves. In general, one of these three valve configurations are used:

 Plate Type valve: Since the valve plate is made of a single element, flow control is
much easier when compared to other types of valves. The stress act on the valve
plate is much higher than the Poppet valve. These type of valves are widely used
compressor handling of Oil-free gases.

 Poppet Type valve – The poppet valve is used for low-speed compressor and gas
contain oil particles. The poppet valves are high lift valves, due to high lift the
pressure drop across the valve is low.
 Ring Type Valve – The ring-type valve consisting of concentric ring valve uses
one or more relatively narrow rings arranged concentrically about the centre line of
the valve. These valves have a low-stress advantage, which can be attributed the
reduction of stress concentration pint. The only disadvantage here is the difficulty
to maintain uniform flow control.
II. Reciprocating Compressor Operation

Single cylinder reciprocating

Each cylinder reciprocating compressor have both a suction valve and a dicharge
valve. These valve give the compressor its ability to pump refrigerant vapor against a
pressure difference. Usually located in the head of the cylinder in passages connected
to the high or low pressure side of the system

The piston begins to move as the crankshaft rotate. Because both valves are closed, the
downward moving piston reduces the pressure in the cylinder. As the pressure in the
cylinder falls below the low side pressure in the section line. The pressure difference
opens the suction valve letting refrigerant vapor flow into the cylinder. The piston
continues down and pulls in more vapor until the cylinder is filled with low pressure
vapor ath the bottom of its stroke. Once past bottom dead center, the piston begins its
upward stroke. The suction valve closes as the piston moves up, it reduces the volume
of the space in the cylinder increasing the pressure of the vapor. When the pressure in
the cylinder exceeds the high side pressure in the discharge line, the pressure
differences pushes the discharge valve open, letting the compressed vapor flow out of
the cylinder. This continues until the piston reaches the top of its stroke and most of
the compressed vapor has been expelled into the discharge line. When the piston begin
its downward stroke, the discharge valve closes, the complete cycle then repeats
during each revolution of the crankshaft.
Include reciprocating compressor with two piston and two cylinder, an intercooler,
aftercooler, demixture, safety valve, receiver

The compressor is a multi – stage reciprocating compressor. Contain two or more

cylinder connect to a discharge one cylinder, it directly inlet in another cylinder

The compressor in this example take atmosphere pressure and increase pressure in two
stages.

In the first stage, the compressor increase the pressure of the air to 25psi. The air that
leaves first stage to the intercooler. In the intercooler , it is cool the fluid. Heat
exchanger that removes waste heat in a gas compressor. The cool air from the
intercooler move to a second – stage. The air pressure increase to 120 psi.

From the second – stage, the compressor air send to the aftercooler which another one
remove heated
During the cooling process, any water vapor can condense. At a result, they’re maybe
a moisture in a compress air, so need to send to a demixture to remove moisture from
the compress air

And the safety valve protect the system from the excessive pressure. If too much
pressure build up, it will open to release the pressure.

Receiver use to storage right compress air.

III. Diagnosing and Troubleshooting

 Compressor is making noise: Check where the noise is coming from. Check if
everything is fixed tight. Look for loose belts, loose bolts, loose pulleys
 Compressor not building pressure and air blowing out of the inlet filter: The inlet
check valves / plates are broken, worn or dirty. At the up-Either the compressor is
not pumping at full capacity, or you have a big leak somewhere. First, check for air
leaks. If nothing found:

Check inlet/outlet valves (inside compressor head)

Check head gasket

Check inlet air filter

 Oil in compressed air:

Too high oil level. When the oil level drops to normal levels, oil carry-over will
stop

Wrong oil. Oil with a too low viscosity, or not suitable for reciprocating piston
compressors

Too high running temperature. A higher temperature will lower the oil viscosity (it
becomes thinner), which results in more oil carry-over