Find out what air compressor size you need
In industry lingo the ‘size’ of an air compressor is assessed by referring to the amount of pressure and flow it creates.
Air pressure is measured in pounds per square inch (psi) or bar (metric measure of pressure).
Your industrial applications require a minimum amount of force to perform a certain amount of work at any given point in time.
The pressure of your compressor provides this force so you need to know exactly how much psi or bar is going to be required by your equipment or industrial processes.
Flow, sometimes referred to as free air delivery (FAD) is measured in cubic feet per minute (cfm), liters per second (l/s) or cubic meters per hour (m3/h).
Your industrial applications require pressure to be sustained and work to be performed over a certain amount of time, either for a full work-day or until the task is completed.
The rate at which pressurized air is created by your compressor needs to match the rate of work being done, so you need to know how much cfm, l/s or m3/h is going to be required by your equipment or industrial processes.
If pressure is insufficient you won’t have enough force to do the work, and if flow is insufficient you’ll need frequent breaks to build up pressure again so you can continue to work.
Do you need help working out exactly how much pressure and flow your whole facility needs?
We can send a team to your site and find out your exact requirements, highlight existing efficiencies, and give you a list of alternative solutions.
Request a FREE consultation from us by filling this form.
You could also call one of our sales representatives directly.
Ask them to guide you on how to use our selection of calculators to measure your on-site conditions and determine equipment specifications.
Pressure + Flow = Size = Energy Requirements = Cost
It pays to spend the timing identifying the exact pressure and flow requirements of your facility.
The existing working pressure that you have in your system depends on the size of the air compressor, its design and all of its pipework, valves, dryers, receivers and filters.
The air requirements of your facility are determined by calculating the air consumption of all the tools, machines and processes that will be connected to the air compressor system.
And also leakages, wear and tear, and future changes in compressed air requirements can raise your actual requirement by upto 60% on top of all that.
According to physics increasing pressure creates a decrease in flow.
A 7 bar air compressor powered by a 15 kW motor can compress and deliver air at a flow of 45 l/s.
A 10 bar version using the same 15 kW power unit can compress and deliver air at a flow of only 37 l/s.
So it’s estimated that to increase the working pressure across your system by 1 bar you should expect an increase of about 6 per cent in your power requirements.
Air compressor manufacturers like Atlas Copco accommodate for a variety of pressure/flow variations in each kW power unit category.
Atlas Copco has designed upto 4 air compressor variants in each kW category that give customers a better chance of meeting their pressure/flow requirements without having to shell out extra cash for something larger.
Decide on the type of air compressor you need
Once you’re clear on the size of compressor you need then you can browse through a catalog like ours and find the right type of air compressor for your application.
Piston compressors or Reciprocating compressors are the most economical and relatively inexpensive type of air compressor.
They’re ideal for small work and machine shops, body shops, tire shops and small manufacturing facilities.
Piston compressors are relatively easy to maintain and require minimum investment.
We supply them either as standard base units, trolley or receiver mounted units, or as a complete compressed air solution that includes starting/regulation equipment and a refrigerant air dryer.
Power requirements range from 0.55 to 15 kW and they can be either oil-lubricated or oil-free machines.
Rotary compressors (both vane and screw types) operate at high speeds, can run continuously with a large flow rate, while maintaining relatively small exterior dimensions.
They are typically chosen when the application requires a continuous supply of pressurized area, either for long shifts or when running a 100% duty cycle.
Atlas Copco supplies variants for a range of budgets, starting from basic designs for smaller kW requirements, all the way upto variable speed drive units (VSD) which are more expensive but guarantees energy savings in the long run.
Their power requirements sit somewhere in the 2.2-500 kW range.
You should also consider whether you need an oil-free or a lubricated compressor.
Both the Piston and Rotary compressor designs have oil-free and lubricated variants.
If air purity is a concern for you then you want to select an oil-free model.
You’ll see this often in applications that deal with food and beverages or laboratories
But in most manufacturing, industrial and small workshops oil injected compressors are ideal since contaminants in the pressurized air don’t affect the quality of the product.
An oil-lubricated compressors, like an oil-injected screw compressor for example, is usually the more economic choice out of the two.
We suggest you get an expert to walk you through the type of air compressors that would work best for your facility.
Why investing in Atlas Copco Air Compressor solutions makes sense
Headquartered in Sweden and operating in over 180 countries, Atlas Copco has been providing industrial solutions since 1873.
Our vision has always been to be First in Mind—First in Choice as a supplier of compressed air and gas solutions worldwide.
And over the years we’ve discovered that being interactive, committed and innovative, is the key to offering them the best value.
Our clients are the beneficiaries of the consistent break-throughs we’ve made in optimizing our products for energy savings.
Did you know that air compressors use anywhere from 12-40% of a facility's yearly industrial electricity consumption?
But of all the energy that’s being supplied to your air compressor a lot of it isn’t even being used!
Energy is wasted in a number of ways:
- Heat production
- Air leakage
- Friction between screw compressor parts
- Bad compressor design
When you get in touch with us we can arrange to send one of our experts to your site to conduct a FREE “compressed air energy audit”.
The audit can be a visual inspection, or a full system overhaul, where we solve for leaks, pressure drops and energy savings however possible.
We innovate. You benefit.
Innovation is in our DNA and Atlas Copco Air Compressors are some of the most technologically advanced in the UAE. When you speak with one of our sales representatives make sure you ask about our Variable Speed Drive technology (VSD). Most industrial applications of air compressors have fluctuating air demand and that is where variable speed drive technology helps. A compressor with our VSD technology simply adjusts its motor and elements speed to match your demand.
This significantly reduces your energy costs anywhere from 35% to 50% per year on average.
Ask about our SMARTLINK 2.0 remote monitoring program as well.
We encourage our customers to be proactive rather than reactive in minimizing risk to the health of their equipment.
This easy-to-install and customizable monitoring program gives you access to real-time data from your air compressors.
SMARTLINK’s data insights allow you to plan maintenance activity in advance, monitor energy efficiency 24/7 and increase your facility’s uptime over the long-term.
You can access SMARTLINK on both your desktop and your phone.
Atlas Copco Compressors deliver on their promise
Our customers maintain a long term working relationship with us because we give them peace of mind and do everything in our power to make sure their production processes run smoothly at all times.
We promise to continue to design products that provide tangible benefits in terms to you of productivity, energy efficiency and lower life cycle cost.
Testimonials
Atlas Copco compressors and dryers are very reliable and user friendly. Their operations are very smooth and noise free. Atlas Copco services are in time and with their services we are maintaining all their units very well.
Atlas Copco Z range of rotary screw oil free compressors installed in our plants are live example of reliable and robust products that ensure sustainable and uninterrupted production. Compressed air is the heart of our operations; The ZT250 air compressors have clocked close to 100,000 running hours of continues operation without any breakdown or need of air end overhauling.
