The experimental analysis of the water spray cooling compressed air

School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P.R. China

^a Corresponding author: weiqing.xu@buaa.edu.cn

Received: 31 May 2016
Accepted: 18 November 2016

Abstract

Air compressor costs approximate 10%–40% of total power in manufacturing industries. And its efficiency is less than 50%. Methods for reducing compression power have been explored extensively. Most of the methods focus on cooling compressed air to achieve isothermal compression. Recently, water spray cooling has become increasingly popular for its high specific heat, small spray diameter and large evaporation heat. In this study, compression system with water spray is compared with that without water spray. The experimental results show that increasing flow rate of water spray can enhance cooling effect and the generated pressure of water spray has little influence on cooling effect. Water spray method has a potential in reducing compression power by 23%. This study provides guidance for the compressor design and basic experiment data for further research.