FLUID CONDITIONING UNIT
The purpose of the fluid conditioners is to make the
compressed air more acceptable and suitable fluid
medium for the pneumatic system as well as the
operating personal
1. Air Filters
2. Air Regulators
3. Air Lubricator
AIR FILTERS
To clean the compressed air of all impurities and any condensate it
contains.
Function of air filters
❖ To remove all foreign matter & allow dry and clean air flow
without restriction to regulator and then to the lubricator
❖ To condensate and remove water from the air
❖ To arrest fine particles and all solid contaminants from air
CONSTRUCTION OF AIR FILTERS
Filter cartridge, Deflector, bowl, water drain valve. Filter bowl is
usually made of plastic and transparent
Operation
✔ Air enters the inlet port of the air filter through angled louvers -
causes the air to spin as it enters the bowl
✔ centrifugal action of the rotating air causes the larger pieces of
dirt and water particles to be thrown against the inner wall of the
filter bowl.
✔ These contaminants then flow down into the bottom of the filter
bowl
✔ baffle prevents turbulent air from splashing water on to the filter
element
✔ The size of the dirt particles which can be filtered out depends on
mesh size of filter element (usually 5-50 microns).
✔ The compressed air then exits through the outer port
AIR REGULATOR
To maintain working pressure virtually constant regardless of
fluctuations of the line pressure and air consumption.
When the pressure is too low, it results in poor efficiencies and when
the pressure is too high, energy is wasted and equipment’s performance
decay faster
pressure fluctuations occur due to variation in supply pressure or load
pressure.
To regulate the pressure to match the requirement of load regardless of
variation in supply pressure or load pressure.
Types of Pressure regulator
[Link] type regulator
⚫ i) Non- reliving or non-venting type.
⚫ ii) Relieving or venting type
2. Piston type regulator
PRESSURE REGULATOR
Where to regulate
▪ At the receiver tank
▪ In the load circuits
Outlet pressure - diaphragm preloaded with a adjustable pressure
setting spring.
The compressed air flows through a controlled cross section at the
valve seat, acts on the other side of the diaphragm.
The diaphragm has large surface area exposed to outlet pressure and is
quite sensitive to its fluctuations.
The movement of diaphragm regulates the pressure.
If the outlet pressure is low:
load pressure reduces – less force acts on diaphragm
opposing higher spring force pushes the diaphragm - to move the
valve disc more & permitting more air to flow to outlet side and
increasing the pressure again
If the outlet pressure is high:
less compressed air is consumed on output side- load pressure
increases - more force acts on diaphragm.
The opposing higher spring force pulls down the diaphragm -to move
the valve disc less & permitting air to flow to vent hole and decreasing
the pressure again
AIR LUBRICATOR
Function: to add a controlled amount of oil with air to ensure
proper lubrication of internal moving parts of pneumatic
components.
Lubricants are used to
To reduce the wear of the moving parts
Reduce the frictional losses
Protect the equipment form corrosion
❖ Excessive lubrication is undesirable may results in
malfunctioning of components,
seizing and sticking of components after prolonged downtime
environmental pollution
AIR LUBRICATOR
As air enters the lubricator its velocity is increased by a venturi
ring.
pressure at the venture ring will be lower than the atmospheric
pressure and the pressure on the oil is atmospheric.
Due to this pressure difference between the upper chamber and
lower chamber, oil will be drawn up in a riser tube.
Oil droplets mix with the incoming air and form a fine mist.
The needle valve is used adjust the pressure differential between
across the oil jet and hence the oil flow rate.
The lubricator starts to operate only when there is sufficient flow
of air.
If too little air is drawn off, the flow velocity at the nozzle is not
sufficient to produce an adequate vacuum and hence to draw oil
out of the vessel
FILTER REGULATOR LUBRICATOR UNIT (FRL UNIT)
AFTER COOLER
The compressed air discharged from an air compressor is hot.
Compressed air at these temperatures contains large quantities of
water in vapour form.
After coolers are heat exchangers for cooling the hot air discharge
from a air compressor.
Removes most of the moistures from the air by virtue of cooling
the air to a lower temp.
They use either air or water and are an effective means of
removing moisture from compressed air.
Installed in the air line between the compressor and the air
receiver.
Functions of compressed air after coolers
Cool air discharged from air compressors via the heat exchanger
Reduce risk of fire (Hot compressed air pipes can be a source of
ignition)
Reduce compressed air moisture level
Increase system capacity
Protect downstream equipment from excessive heat
PNEUMATIC SILENCERS
Used to control the noise caused by the rapidly exhausting
airstream into atmosphere
AIR DRYERS
Function: is to lower the dew point of the compressed air by removing the
moisture from it.
For simple applications, to remove excess humidity,
to get high quality compressed air additional means of dehydration must be
provided using dryer
TYPES OF AIR DRYERS
1. Chemical (Absorption)
2. Adsorption
3. Refrigeration
Chemical (Absorption)
✔ The moisture in the compressed air forms a compound with drying agent like
phosphoric pentaoxide in the tank.
✔ This causes the drying agent to break down.
✔ It is then discharged in the form of a fluid at the base of the tank
Adsorption type dryer
❖ Remove moisture using beds made of materials such as activated
alumina or silica gel.
❖ Mechanical process – involves capturing of moisture in the pores of the
bed material
o Refrigeration
❖ It is composed of a heat exchanger (stage1) and a refrigerating unit
(Stage2) to reduce the temperature of the compressed air.
❖ The incoming warm and humid air is first passed through the heat
exchanger, and then through the refrigerating unit to reduce the
temperature of the compressed to as low as +2°C
❖ Principle: if the compressed air is cooled to a temperature below the
dew point, condensation talks place and water is precipitated.
❖ Almost all the water and oil particles get condensed, and collected in
the water traps provided at appropriate points.
❖ The cooled compressed air is then filtered to remove from it the
suspended solid particles and most of the oil mist.
REFRIGERATED DRYER
