INCREASING THE PERFORMANCE OF LUBRICATION-FREE, LOW-FLOW, LOW-SPEED, MEDIUM- AND HIGH-PRESSURE RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS

One of the main tasks of piston compressor machines is to provide high productivity of compressed gas. It is known that the presence of dead volume reduces the operating efficiency of any piston compressor; the effect is especially strong at significant values of the ratio of discharge pressure to suction pressure. In low-speed machines considered in this work, the pressure increase ratio exceeds 100, which actualizes work on the problem of reducing the harmful effect of dead volume on compressor performance. Dead volume can be reduced by eliminating the linear dead volume, which takes up its majority. Experimental studies of a design in which a rubber (elastomer) disc is installed on the end surface of the piston facing the valve plate are considered. The conducted studies showed that the use of a rubber disk with the possibility of touching the proposed design of the valve plate piston almost completely eliminates linear dead volume. In this case, the increase in the feed rate can reach 20%.