how does the air inside the air compressor travel?
by dianne
For example, starting from the atmosphere, then to the different parts of the compressor, until air is supplied... Bill answers... Hi Dianne... I'm not exactly sure what information you are trying to get here...but here's some theory for you! When a compressor head is running the cycling of the components inside the head creates a vacuum in a small reservoir inside that compressor head. That reservoir is connected to an air-supply intake port, usually with an intake air filter on it. Because there's a vacuum inside the compressor head, free air from the outside flows in through the intake air filter, and into the small reservoir inside the compressor head. The small reservoir inside the compressor head is not the air tank below it. The small reservoir inside the compressor head will vary significantly, depending on what type of compressor it is, and the size of it. When there is a need for compressed air, the compressor head is running of course, so this process of creating a vacuum inside the compressor head happens very quickly. As the compressor head cycles, the air that's been drawn in is forced into the compressor reservoir through a tube with a one-way check valve. Air can flow down in to the main air tank on the compressor, but it can't flow back out through that tube. More and more air gets drawn to the compressor and compressed into the tank below the compressor head until the pressure inside that tank reaches a certain level. That level is controlled by a pressure switch on the compressor, and it's this pressure switch sensing the air pressure inside the tank that turns the compressor head on and off. When the pressure in that tank reaches the “set pressure” of the pressure switch, you now have a tank full of compressed air. The air outside of the air tank is usually around one atmosphere. This is also know as one bar, or about 14.7 PSI. The air inside the tank is at a higher level than that, often in the 100-120 PSI range when the tank is full and the compressor head has stopped. Mother nature doesn't like imbalance. She wants all the air in the world to be at one atmosphere. So, when the discharge port of the compressor tank is opened (you turn a valve on, pull the trigger of an air too...etc.) all of the air inside that tank rushes (at the speed of sound evidently) to get from the high pressure area back to atmosphere. It flows out of the tank, down the air hose to the air appliance, through that tool, and then back to atmosphere. We have stored energy by compressing the air in the first place, and now we use this headlong rush of air getting back to atmospheric pressure, to do work for us. Hope this helps. Cheers, Bill
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