A pump is a device that moves fluids, or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy.
The Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. The concept was proven by German engineer Felix Wankel, followed by a commercially feasible engine designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. The Wankel engine's rotor, which creates the turning motion, is similar in shape to a Reuleaux triangle, with the sides having less curvature. The rotor spins inside a figure-eight-like epitrochoidal housing around a fixed-toothed gearing. The midpoint of the rotor moves in a circle around the output shaft, rotating the shaft via a cam.
The Roots blower is a positive displacement lobe pump which operates by pumping a fluid with a pair of meshing lobes resembling a set of stretched gears. Fluid is trapped in pockets surrounding the lobes and carried from the intake side to the exhaust.
An air compressor is a machine that takes ambient air from the surroundings and discharges it at a higher pressure. It is an application of a gas compressor and a pneumatic device that converts mechanical power into potential energy stored in compressed air, which has many uses. A common application is to compress air into a storage tank, for immediate or later use. When the delivery pressure reaches its set upper limit, the compressor is shut off, or the excess air is released through an overpressure valve. The compressed air is stored in the tank until it is needed. The pressure energy provided by the compressed air can be used for a variety of applications such as pneumatic tools as it is released. When tank pressure reaches its lower limit, the air compressor turns on again and re-pressurizes the tank. A compressor is different from a pump because it works on a gas, while pumps work on a liquid.
The Brayton cycle, also known as the Joule cycle, is a thermodynamic cycle that describes the operation of certain heat engines that have air or some other gas as their working fluid. It is characterized by isentropic compression and expansion, and isobaric heat addition and rejection, though practical engines have adiabatic rather than isentropic steps.
The bypass ratio (BPR) of a turbofan engine is the ratio between the mass flow rate of the bypass stream to the mass flow rate entering the core. A 10:1 bypass ratio, for example, means that 10 kg of air passes through the bypass duct for every 1 kg of air passing through the core.
A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor.
A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated through a heat exchanger to cool equipment, or another process stream. As a necessary by-product, refrigeration creates waste heat that must be exhausted to ambience, or for greater efficiency, recovered for heating purposes. Vapor compression chillers may use any of a number of different types of compressors. Most common today are the hermetic scroll, semi-hermetic screw, or centrifugal compressors. The condensing side of the chiller can be either air or water cooled. Even when liquid cooled, the chiller is often cooled by an induced or forced draft cooling tower. Absorption and adsorption chillers require a heat source to function.
The Quasiturbine or Qurbine engine is a proposed pistonless rotary engine using a rhomboidal rotor whose sides are hinged at the vertices. The volume enclosed between the sides of the rotor and the rotor casing provide compression and expansion in a fashion similar to the more familiar Wankel engine, but the hinging at the edges allows the volume ratio to increase. A geometrical indetermination of the Quasiturbine confinement stator shape allows for a variety of profiles and design characteristics. Unlike vane pumps, in which vane extension is generally important and against which the pressure acts to generate the rotation, the Quasiturbine contour seals have a minimal extension and the rotation does not result from pressure against these seals.
A scroll compressor is a device for compressing air or refrigerant. It is used in air conditioning equipment, as an automobile supercharger and as a vacuum pump. Many residential central heat pump and air conditioning systems and a few automotive air conditioning systems employ a scroll compressor instead of the more traditional rotary, reciprocating, and wobble-plate compressors.
An axial compressor is a gas compressor that can continuously pressurize gases. It is a rotating, airfoil-based compressor in which the gas or working fluid principally flows parallel to the axis of rotation, or axially. This differs from other rotating compressors such as centrifugal compressor, axi-centrifugal compressors and mixed-flow compressors where the fluid flow will include a "radial component" through the compressor.
A jet engine performs by converting fuel into thrust. How well it performs is an indication of what proportion of its fuel goes to waste. It transfers heat from burning fuel to air passing through the engine. In doing so it produces thrust work when propelling a vehicle but a lot of the fuel is wasted and only appears as heat. Propulsion engineers aim to minimize the degradation of fuel energy into unusable thermal energy. Increased emphasis on performance improvements for commercial airliners came in the 1970s from the rising cost of fuel.
A rotary-screw compressor is a type of gas compressor, such as an air compressor, that uses a rotary-type positive-displacement mechanism. These compressors are common in industrial applications and replace more traditional piston compressors where larger volumes of compressed gas are needed, e.g. for large refrigeration cycles such as chillers, or for compressed air systems to operate air-driven tools such as jackhammers and impact wrenches. For smaller rotor sizes the inherent leakage in the rotors becomes much more significant, leading to this type of mechanism being less suitable for smaller compressors than piston compressors.
Vapour-compression refrigeration or vapor-compression refrigeration system (VCRS), in which the refrigerant undergoes phase changes, is one of the many refrigeration cycles and is the most widely used method for air conditioning of buildings and automobiles. It is also used in domestic and commercial refrigerators, large-scale warehouses for chilled or frozen storage of foods and meats, refrigerated trucks and railroad cars, and a host of other commercial and industrial services. Oil refineries, petrochemical and chemical processing plants, and natural gas processing plants are among the many types of industrial plants that often utilize large vapor-compression refrigeration systems. Cascade refrigeration systems may also be implemented using two compressors.
The Britalus rotary engine was invented in 1982 by Kenneth W. Porter, P.E., M.S.A.E, of King County, Washington. It operates on a modified Brayton cycle, but with continuous pulsed combustion, similar to that of a gas turbine. It can burn most commonly available hydrocarbon fuels and features the high compression ratio (14:1) typical of a Diesel cycle. The engine is patented, US Patent 4336686 of 1982.
A gerotor is a positive displacement pump. The name gerotor is derived from "generated rotor." A gerotor unit consists of an inner and an outer rotor. The inner rotor has n teeth, while the outer rotor has n + 1 teeth, with n defined as a natural number greater than or equal to 2. The axis of the inner rotor is offset from the axis of the outer rotor and both rotors rotate on their respective axes. The geometry of the two rotors partitions the volume between them into n different dynamically-changing volumes. During the assembly's rotation cycle, each of these volumes changes continuously, so any given volume first increases, and then decreases. An increase creates a vacuum. This vacuum creates suction, and hence, this part of the cycle is where the inlet is located. As a volume decreases, compression occurs. During this compression period, fluids can be pumped or, if they are gaseous fluids, compressed.
A hydrogen compressor is a device that increases the pressure of hydrogen by reducing its volume resulting in compressed hydrogen or liquid hydrogen.
A variable-speed drive (VSD) air compressor is an air compressor that takes advantage of variable-speed drive technology. This type of compressor uses a special drive to control the speed (RPM) of the unit, which in turn saves energy compared to a fixed speed equivalent. This is done to improve the efficiency of the compressor as varying the displacement or compression ratio of a compressor generally introduces significant inefficiency, or is impractical to implement.
Kaeser Compressors, Inc. manufactures compressed air and vacuum products, including rotary screw compressors, oil-less reciprocating compressors, rotary lobe blowers, rotary screw blowers, high-speed turbo blowers, refrigerated and desiccant dryers, filters, condensate management systems and other related products. The company provides service, rentals, and consulting services. Kaeser Compressors, Inc. is a US affiliate of Kaeser Kompressoren headquartered in Coburg, Germany.
The guided-rotor compressor (GRC) is a positive-displacement rotary gas compressor. The compression volume is defined by the trochoidally rotating rotor mounted on an eccentric drive shaft with a typical 80 to 85% adiabatic efficiency.
