Air Compressors WA has a large range of Rotary Screw Air Compressors, Piston Air Compressors (sometimes called Reciprocating Air Compressors), Oil-Free Air Compressors, Silent Air Compressors (that aren’t all that silent), Lubricated Air Compressors, Piston Compressors with Cast Iron Pumps, Variable Speed (VSD) Rotary Screw Air Compressors and lastly Fixed Speed Rotary Screw Air Compressors.
But which one is the right one for your needs? Read on to learn about what duty-cycle is and how it is important, lubricated vs oil-free machines, variable speed vs fixed speed screws, single phase, three phase, 10amp and 15amp variations.
Duty cycle – what is it, and how does it affect me?
Duty cycle is how long the machine may run (the duty) without turning off. Piston compressors generally have a duty cycle of 50%, meaning that out of any period of time they can operate for 50% of the time, but also need to be shut down for 50% of the time. This is because the process of compressing air compressed by the unit creates heat, and over time the unit will get hot and needs to cool down.
The critical point of this duty cycle is that when you need to provide air to equipment has a constant air flow requirement rate e.g. 300 litres per minute, then a piston compressor that can produce 300 litres per minute would not be sufficient as the unit needs to turn off 50% of the time, thus making the real constant air flow capability of the piston air compressor to be, over a given time period, 150 litres per minute.
When choosing a piston air compressors to suit your air flow requirements, the stated piston air compressor flow rate needs to be halved.
Screw compressors on the other hand, have a duty cycle of 100%. They create the same heat whilst creating compressed air, however they have larger oil capacity and temperature sensors connected to large electronic fans that will automatically turn on when the unit is hot, cooling it down to the required temperature. However due to the technology used, they are generally more expensive than piston compressors.
Filtration
Every air compressor should have filtration on the compressed air that exits the unit. Atmospheric air that is sucked into the unit to create the compressed air has contaminants such as dust, pollen, smoke etc, and these should be filtered out before the air is used. As atmospheric air also contains moisture (humidity), this is also compressed inside the tank and will need to be removed. For more about air treatment have a look here.
Want to learn more?
Are you interested in Rotary Screw Air Compressors, but you’re not sure which one is the right one for your needs? Then read all about screw compressor types on our Screw Air Compressors – Air Compressors 101 informational blog about how they work, variable speed drives, fixed speed, full featured, tank mounted and base mounts.
Not sure what size piston air compressor is best? Triple head, cast iron, silent, three phase or 15amp? Read all
about piston air compressor types on our Piston Compressors – Air Compressors 101 informational blog.
