1 Tension in Atmospheres. 2 Volume. 3 Work of Compression. Cubic Meters in Kilogram-meters. 4 Work of Compression. Cubic Feet in Foot Pounds. 5 Volume. 6 Work of Compression. (Dry.) Cubic Meters in Kilogram-meters. 7 Work of Compression. (Dry.) Cubic Feet in Foot Pounds. Deduced from 6. 8 Temperatures. (Dry.) Cent. 9 Temperatures. (Dry.) Fah. 10 Ratio of Greater to Less Temperature. Absolute. 11 Loss of Work in Compressing one Cubic Meter in Kilogram-meters. By Increase of Temperature alone. 12 Percentage of Work of Compression Converted into Heat and Lost. By Increase of Temperature alone. 13 Final Temperature if Water is used in Compression. Fah. 14 Percentage of Water to Air Required. 15 Foot Pounds to Compress One Pound Air. Dry. 16 Foot Pounds to Compress One Pound Air. With sufficient Moisture.

The first advantage is by far the most important one, and is really the only excuse for water injection in air compressors. We have seen (table 3) that the percentage of work of compression which is converted into heat and loss when no cooling system is used is as follows:

 Compressing to 2 atmospheres loss 9.2 per cent.

" " 3 " " 15.0 " "

" " 4 " " 19.6 " "

" " 5 " " 21.3 " "

" " 6 " " 24.0 " "

" " 7 " " 26.0 " "

" " 8 " " 27.4 " "

We see that in compressing air to five atmospheres, which is the usual practice, the heat loss is 21.3 per cent., so that if we keep down the temperature of the air during compression to the isothermal line, we save this loss. The best practice in America has brought this heat loss down to 3.6 per cent. (old Ingersoll Injection Air Compressor), while in Europe the heat loss has been reduced to 1.6 per cent. Steam-driven air compressors are usually run at a piston speed of about 350 feet per minute, or from 60-80 revolutions per minute of compressors of average sizes, say 18" diameter of cylinder. Sixty revolutions per minute is equal to 120 strokes, or two strokes per second. An air cylinder 18" in diameter filled with free air once every half second, and at each stroke compressing the air to 60 pounds, and thereby producing 309 degrees of heat, is thus, by means of water injection, cooled to an extent hardly possible with mere surface contact. The specific heat of water being about four times that of air, it readily takes up the heat of compression.

A properly designed spray system must not be confused with the numerous devices applied to air cylinders, by means of which water is introduced. In some cases the water is merely drawn in through the inlet valves. In others it passes through the center of the piston and rod, coming in contact with the interior walls of the air cylinder between the packing rings. Introducing water into the air cylinder in any other way, except in the form of a spray, has but little effect in cooling the air during compression. On the contrary, it is a most fallacious system, because it introduces all the disadvantages of water injection without its isothermal influence. Water, by mere surface contact with air, takes up but little heat, while the air, having a chance to increase its temperature, absorbs water through the affinity of air for moisture, and thus carries over a volume of saturated hot air into the receiver and pipes, which on cooling, as it always does in transit to the mine, deposits its moisture and gives trouble through water and freezing. It is, therefore, of much importance to bear in mind that unless water can be introduced during compression to such an extent as to keep down the temperature of the air in the cylinder, it had better not be introduced at all.

If too little water is introduced into an air cylinder during compression, the result is warm, moist air, and if too much water is used, it results in a surplus of power required to move a body of water which renders no useful service. The following table deduced from Zahner's formula gives the quantity of water which should be injected per cubic foot of air compressed in order to keep the temperature down to 104 degrees Fah.

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| | |

| |Weight of water |Weight of water

| |to be injected at |to be injected at

|Heat units devel-|68° Fah. to keep |68° Fah. to keep

Compression |oped in 1 lb. |the temperature at|the temperature at

by atmosphere |free air by |104° Fah. in lbs. |104° Fah. in lbs. of

above a volume.|compression. |of water and per |water for 1 cubic

| |lb. of free air. |foot of free air.

_______________|_________________|__________________|____________________

| | |

2 | 3.702 | 0.734 | 0.056

3 | 5.867 | 1.664 | 0.089

4 | 7.406 | 1.469 | 0.113

5 | 8.598 | 1.701 | 0.131

6 | 9.570 | 1.891 | 0.145

7 | 10.398 | 2.063 | 0.158

8 | 11.109 | 2.204 | 0.167

9 | 11.740 | 2.329 | 0.179

10 | 12.301 | 2.440 | 0.188

11 | 12.813 | 2.542 | 0.195

12 | 13.278 | 2.634 | 0.202

13 | 13.706 | 2.719 | 0.209

14 | 14.102 | 2.798 | 0.215

15 | 14.471 | 2.871 | 0.223

_______________|_________________|__________________|____________________

Objections to water injection are as follows:

(1) Impurities in the water, which, through both mechanical and chemical action, destroy exposed metallic surfaces.

(2) Wear of cylinder, piston and other parts, due directly to the fact that water is a bad lubricant, and as the density of water is greater than that of oil, the latter floats on the water and has no chance to lubricate the moving parts.

(3) Wet air arising from insufficient quantity of water and from inefficient means of ejection.

(4) Mechanical complications connected with the water pump, and the difficulties in the way of proportioning the volume of water and its temperature to the volume, temperature and pressure of the air.

(5) Loss of power required to overcome the inertia of the water.

(6) Limitations to the speed of the compressor, because of the liability to break the cylinder head joint by water confined in the clearance spaces.

(7) Absorption of air by water.