Compressed Air! What is It?
A simple explanation of compressed air is; air that is squeezed into a smaller volume. Simple, right?
If it is all so simple, why then are there so many scientific explanations, white papers, Doctoral Dissertations, and convoluted and complex explanations all over the internet?
Why do we need Boyle’s Law? Who is Charles and what is his law ?Charles’s Law? What exactly is Isothermal Compression? Why is Adiabatic Compression important? What is Polytropic Compression (Hint, Adiabatic and Isothermal Compression are both purely theoretical. Polytropic compression is the real-world hybrid of the two theories that we use every day). In a simple explanation for the layman that uses compressed air every day, we do not really need the Thermodynamic theories and explanations. Nor do we need to know and understand the physics of it all.
The simple answer is that compressed air is not exactly simple. There are all kinds of components that affect a compressed air stream. Altitude, relative humidity, ambient temperature, particulate contaminants, gasses, and vapors in the ambient atmosphere at the compressor intake. In some cases, even the sun shining on the compressor itself. These will determine the size of the compressor and the air treatment components required to supply the quality of the compressed air required to meet a specific need or specification.
Understanding Compressed Air Made Simple
So, what can possibly be simple about what seems to be an overly complex process? Well, simply put, the reason to compress air in the first place is that compressed air is a clean, safe, inexpensive method to transfer the energy of the electric motor or gasoline, diesel, propane, or alternative fueled internal combustion engine driving the compressor, to a point of use.
Compressed air is simply a method of converting electrical or internal combustion energy, to a medium that is easily and safely transmitted to a remote point of use. The stored energy is converted to mechanical energy at the point of use.
Just connect some piping to the storage tank, install distribution piping, valves and quick disconnects or threaded connectors and you have power to operate air cylinders, run air motors in air tools, provide pressure to run air bearings in machine tools or any of the other thousands of functions and uses of compressed air.
And that is the simple explanation of compressed air. It is cheap, safe and easy to use. It is efficient, very versatile and it is easy to understand (well unless you really want to get into the theory and physics of it all).
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