What is the Idea of ​​a Two Stage Air Compressors?

Air compressors and pneumatic technology have been the industry standard for most heavy-duty applications and heavy transport applications for decades. Because compressed air is much more efficient and powerful than many other energy sources and produces significantly less waste, it is very popular with large industrial companies. As such, technology has now been continuously improved for more than a century. Some of the basic air compressor technologies still used today were originally developed in the early 20th century, but there was a constant efforts to improve them. Improve efficiency, price, portability and overall efficiency.

One of the main challenges in developing air compressors is to get more pressure from the similar common technology. For example, a simple rotary screw compressor or a simple piston compressor can only compress a large amount of air in each cycle, but more compressed air can build up at the top of the storage tank. When the accumulated air reached a certain level, the technology can no longer compress it. In some cases, modifying the process in some way, such as adding oil to the air, was the answer. This improves efficiency and allows less air to leak out and build up more in the tank, but air/oil mixtures are very unsuitable for some applications, such as creating breathable or medical air.

Another idea for increasing the level of air compression is to build a two-stage air compressor that compresses the air and then re-compresses it a second time. Basically, a two-stage air compressor is two separate compressors integrated into one unit. The first stage performs an initial air compression and keeps the air in the tank. A second compressor takes the already compressed air from the tank, then re-compresses it a second time and stores this air in a separate tank. The result is that the same technology can efficiently compress twice the base level of air in two compression cycles.

In many cases, compressors designed specifically for specific purposes, by operating with two-stage air compressors, can produce much more compressed air - or even higher levels of compressed air. A good example of this would include the aforementioned compressors designed to produce respirable or medically compressed air. The same is true for small compressors designed specifically for quiet operation in office applications. By adding a second compression stage, you can double the possible compression level using the same technique.

Most of these machines are specifically designed for industrial applications because the main result of using a two-stage air compressor is twice the pressure (psi or pounds per square inch). That said, you'll rarely come across a two-stage air compressor designed for home use or small portable applications. In contrast, the increased pounds per square inch means these machines are only practically applicable for applications that require extremely high psi levels. A two-stage air compressor is usually much more expensive than a single-stage version of the same machine. Of course, the price increase makes sense in that these compressors are essentially two air compressors in one. Moreover, they are actually designed for industrial use rather than personal use, and perhaps businesses can afford to pay more for essential machines than individuals.