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Compressed air;
Here's general information about compressed air.
There are basically three commonly used energy sources for industry.
They are:
Compressed air is the energy source of choice for doing much of our nation's industrial work.
It is an energy source that's relatively easy to store, is non-flammable, is very powerful, can generate high speed in a variety of ways with air actuators, and other air tooling, and is extremely versatile in the variety of ways it is used.
For example, it can provide a cushion upon which we drive our vehicles. The air inside the tire is "pumped" into the it with
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Remember when pumping air into your car tire at the gas station was free? :-} It still is if you chose to use that hand compressor, the bicycle tire pump. But who wants to do that?
With compressed air you can rough or fine finish the surface of a piece of woodwork or smooth weldments in steel with an air sander or grinder.
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Compressed air use is everywhere.
Compressed air can be carried anywhere with an appropriate pressure vessel - sometimes called an air hog or air pig. And as mentioned earlier, compressed air is relatively safe in that it's non-flammable. When you spill compressed air, it doesn't make a mess!
Compressed air helps people breathe underwater, in an environment that is foreign and deadly to them.
If you're one of those folks with and interest in SCUBA, sorry about that! Much as there is huge appeal for using Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, and there are a huge number of web sites dedicated to that exciting pass time, this site has to do with industrial and home uses of compressed air.
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Compressing Air Converts Energy
Compressed air is able to do work because as you compress air you transform one form of energy into another form of energy which you then store for later use.
This energy form, compressed air, is now at imbalance, in that you have an area of high pressure in a compressor receiver surrounded by an area of lower pressure; the atmosphere.
Mother Nature doesn't like imbalance in her systems. And that you have a container - an air tank, a receiver, an air-hog or a plant air main filled with compressed air at 120 PSI or so, bothers her. She wants that air to be back at a nice, comfortable, 14.7 PSI - that being the pressure of the atmosphere. And she wants it right now!
That drive to achieve balance in nature - that is, to get the compressed air from an area of high pressure back to atmospheric pressure, means that when you open the valve on the tank or air line, air will move at almost the speed of sound as it rushes to try to get back to 14.7 PSI, that one atmosphere at sea level.
By controlling this flow of air, and directing it into tools that in themselves can perform work, then you can extract work from the compressed air energy as it decompresses back to atmospheric levels.
And we have. Over the years, mankind has learned how to use this high-to-low pressure flow of air to do work for us via specialty nozzles, air tools, air actuators, air motors, and so on. Compressed air really is a neat way to store and use energy.
As we mentioned earlier, for the most part, industry uses the following as energy for manufacturing and processes; compressed air, hydraulics and electricity.
Compressed Air
If your application involves manufacturing or processing products that are flammable or explosive compressed air actuators and air operated directional control valves don’t create sparks.
Therefore, fire or explosion risk can be reduced to an acceptable level when using compressed air equipment in almost all flammable operations. Compressed air can be used in applications where other energy forms might blow you to kingdom come!
Compressed air can be, and often is, worked with and on by persons without formal training. If that person isn't skilled in using compressed air, it could result in injury or death to them or their colleagues, or cause damaged equipment. Be very careful! Compressed air can be dangerous.
If the force you require for your application can be generated by an air compressor working with an appropriately sized equipment, then you would likely pick compressed air as your energy source over hydraulics simply because compressed air components, from the compressor through to tools, are less expensive.
Hydraulic
Using hydraulic energy is more expensive in generation of energy to do work, and in the cost of the components to use hydraulic force. If you don't need the immense pressures and force that hydraulics can give you, it doesn't make sense to pay for that capacity.
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