Air Compressor Components

The pressure switch or pressure transducer on your compressor monitors the pressure in your compressed air system. These devices need a reaction time, to cut in and to cut out. Without a vertical, or horizontal air receiver, the cut-in and cut-out pressures are reached in seconds. This causes the compressor to run unstable and it will damage your compressor. With an air receiver with a volume of about 10 % to 20 % of your compressor output per minute, your compressor will operate within design parameters.

The air receiver allows the compressed air to cool down in the receiver and water will condense inside the receiver. The moisture in the compressed air is not desirable and must be removed. This condensation must be drained from the air receiver on a regular basis.

Always try to enter the compressed air into the receiver on one end and exit on the furthest point from the entrance. This way your compressed air will move slowly through the whole length of the receiver and get time to cool down, for maximum condensation. If the entrance and exit are too close to one another, the hot incoming air will exit without cooling down and very little condensation of the moisture will take place in the receiver.

When a short peak air consumption is needed, more than the compressor capacity, the air receiver will smooth this peak and this peak consumption can be supplied for a short time span.

If you install one vertical air receiver between the compressor and your air dryer and one vertical receiver after your dryer, you half the peak demand through your dryer and you will minimize the flooding of the dryer.

Airpower normally tries to put the second vertical air receiver on the furthest point in the air reticulation system. This way the pressure drop in the airlines is also minimized during peak demand. You feed the compressed air from both ends to the take-off point.