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Liquid piston compressor
Liquid piston compression is the working principle of a liquid ring compressor. This machine utilizes a spinning ring of liquid to compress gas rather than a solid, mechanical piston. This design is incredibly robust, as it involves no metal-to-metal contact, and the liquid does all the sealing and compressing work. This process is a reliable solution for compressing gas streams that are wet, dirty or corrosive or that contain flammable or explosive vapors.
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Some of the most frequently asked questions about liquid piston compressors include:
FAQs
Yes and no. A liquid piston is the working principle of a machine commonly known as a rotary liquid ring compressor. Instead of a solid piston, this machine compresses gas using a rotating ring of liquid, like mineral or synthetic oils, solvents, organic liquids or glycol, depending on the model and application.
These machines are also called liquid ring vacuum pumps, since their most common use is creating a vacuum in demanding industrial environments like chemical plants, paper mills and food processing facilities.
A rotary liquid ring compressor follows a thorough process to compress gas:
- Forming the ring: The process starts by adding liquid to the drum. The drum features a paddle that spins at a high speed, creating a centrifugal force that throws water against the outer wall, forming a perfect rotating ring.
- Creating chambers: Since the paddle wheel is off-center, the space between the central hub and the liquid ring constantly changes. This creates chambers between the paddle’s blades that expand and contract.
- Intake: On the side where the chambers expand, a vacuum is created. An inlet port is located there, allowing gas to be sucked into these expanding chambers.
- Compression: As the wheel continues to turn, the pockets on the other side shrink. This squeezes the trapped gas, compressing it to the desired output.
- Discharge: An outlet port is located where the gas is more compressed, and the spinning action pushes the gas out of the machine.
A liquid piston compressor design is highly reliable, requiring minimal maintenance since it features only one major moving part, and no metal-to-metal contact is required for sealing. The liquid ring acts as a protective barrier, allowing the compressor to handle wet, corrosive or particulate-laden gas streams that would damage other designs.
This process also allows for cool and quiet operation. The liquid absorbs the heat of compression, enabling a cool, nearly isothermal operation and quiet, low-vibration performance.
Rotary liquid ring compressors are ideal for vacuum and low-pressure applications. They compress difficult or dirty gas streams in industrial settings like:
- Vapor recovery in chemical plants and refineries
- Bottling, deaeration and evaporation tasks for food and beverage processing
- Pulling a continuous vacuum on steam turbine condensers for power generation
- Sucking large volumes of water out of paper pulp in paper mills