Drying Compressed Air Using Over-compression
All atmospheric air contains some amount of water vapor. When air is compressed, the water concentration increases. To avoid future problems in the compressor installation, the compressed air needs to be treated. In this article we talk about drying the air by over-compression.
What is over-compression?
Over-compression is perhaps the easiest method for drying compressed air. Air is first compressed to a higher pressure than the intended working pressure, which means that the concentration of water vapor increases. Thereafter the air is cooled and the water is separated as a result. Finally, the air is allowed to expand to the working pressure, and a lower PDP is attained. However, this method is only suitable for very small air flow rates, due to its high energy consumption.