Reciprocating compressor
Device used to pump gases at high pressure
A reciprocating compressor or piston compressor is a positive-displacement compressor that uses pistons driven by a crankshaft to deliver gases at high pressure. Pressures of up to 5,000 psig (about 34.5 MPa) are commonly produced by multistage reciprocating compressors.
The intake gas enters the suction manifold, then flows into the compression cylinder where it gets compressed by a piston driven in a reciprocating motion via a crankshaft, and is then discharged. Applications include railway and road vehicle air brake systems oil refineries, gas pipelines, oil and gas production drilling and well services, air and nitrogen injection, offshore platforms, chemical plants, natural gas processing plants, air conditioning, and refrigeration plants. One specialty application is the blowing of plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Reciprocating compressor”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Kompresors.svg by No machine-readable author provided. Yyy assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 2.5
- ReciprocatingCompressor.jpg by Mbeychok at English Wikipedia, Public domain
- Daw Catalogue Patent Compressor Tracts vol 9 p166.jpg by A & Z Daw, London,, Public domain
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