Air Compressors

Air compressors provide air and power for various tools, machinery and manufacturing processes in a wide range of industries. They may be used individually as a surface finishing tool, or they may provide efficient energy generation for many manufacturing processes and pneumatic power systems, including automotive repair equipment, surface finishing and pneumatic power tools.

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Central Air Compressor
Warren, MI
877-523-7277
A distributor of air compressors, Central offers a wide variety of equipment, offering brands such as Champion, Powerex and CompAir. Central's trained support team is eager to assist you, whether it is through its 24 hour emergency operation or during regular business hours. Please contact Central today with any questions or go to the website for full listings of products and services.
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Brehob Corporation
Indianapolis, IN
800-632-4451
An employee-owned company, Brehob Corporation`s offers you complete air compressor solutions and provides a full line of additional equipment including dryers and accessories. Brehob can put together a complete system for your facility or provide replacement equipment, repairs, rentals and system audits to ensure optimal functionality of your compressor system. Call Brehob today!
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Aero Compressor, Inc.
Santa Fe Springs, CA
800-649-2376
Established in 1962, Aero Compressor, Inc. has been a leading distributor of Sullair Corporation`s top of the line air compressors, dryers, vacuum systems filters and related products. Aero is fully committed to supplying quality equipment and services. Aero's supportive professionals will help determine the best way to design and operate your plant systems. Call Aero today!
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Sauer Compressors USA, Inc.
Stevensville, MD
410-604-3142
High-quality products are what Sauer has manufactured since 1930. As a global leader in compressor technology, Sauer's high-pressure piston compressors equal reliability and quality. The Department of Defense depends upon Sauer's reliable compressors for naval applications. Sauer's air compressors lead the industry in quality, dependability & comprehensive customer support.
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Air Compressor Equipment Inc.
Wilson, NC
252-291-7808
ACE is a leading company specializing in service, parts and equipment sales, providing high-quality air compressors at competitive prices to numerous industries. ACE offers a complete line of parts for all major brands and some parts for the home-use-type units. ACE is a complete store house for separators and filters. For more product information, visit ACE's website today!
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Pacific Air Compressors
Troutdale, OR
503-674-2744
Expect the best from Pacific, a leading distributor of air compressors, dryers, filters, vacuum pumps, accessories and more from eight different manufacturers. Furthermore, Pacific carries a complete line of systems and parts, including service and maintenance kits, filtration products, lubricants and coolers. Contact Pacific today and expect the best- it`s all they carry!
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View A Video on Air Compressors- A Quick Introduction

Compressors come in a variety of styles, the differences lying in the power sources they use, their method of operation and their size. Industrial air compressors are available in three main configurations: reciprocating compressors, rotary screw compressors and centrifugal compressors. Reciprocating air compressors create air compression with pistons; these have a broad range of output capabilities and are fairly cost-effective. Rotary screw compressors are generally configured as regular, lubricated compressors, which may be designed as oilless air compressors, while centrifugal air compressors are always oil-free. Rotary screw and reciprocating compressors may be designed as portable air compressors or as central facility units. The oil-free compressor style is being adopted by another common design, the rotary air compressor. This air compressor comes in a variety of sizes, including the mini air compressor, which can be as small as ten pounds. Regardless of the type of air compressor a buyer is shopping for, they can buy it new or pay a slimmer price and get a used air compressor that is often in excellent shape and will last long enough to be worthwhile. Air compressors vary in size as well as the ways in which they are powered; they can be powered by electricity or a gas motor. Electric air compressors come equipped with a power cord, while 12 volt batteries, which are always a part of 12 volt air compressors, can be recharged in an electrical outlet or a car cigarette lighter, depending on the size. Gas air compressors operate by way of a gasoline run motor.

Automotive industries use air compressors extensively for tire inflation, parts cleaning and surface finishing; homes and commercial businesses use air compressors in a range of appliance and recreational product applications such as paintball gun canisters. Gas stations use compressors for gas pumps; airbrush paint applications also use air compressors in auto body shops, commercial and private airbrush art and home painting projects. Power tools such as jackhammers, jacklegs, needle scalers, tuggers/winches, air chisels, chipping hammers and rock drills use compressors or portable air compressors. Sandblasters also operate on compressed air. Other tools that use compressed air include nail guns, sanders, drills, staplers and spray guns. Industrial air compressors provide air for air purification systems, air lock systems, blast forges and temperature control systems. Another use for air compressors is filling the metal oxygen cylinders used by deep sea divers to swim and research. Air compressors are usually made from one of three basic metals: aluminum, steel and cast iron. However, when lightweight compressors are needed, such as a mini compressor or portable compressor, plastic is used in place of metal.

Air compressors are mechanical devices that compress air by pulling it in from the atmosphere and decreasing its volume while simultaneously increasing its pressure. Reciprocating air compressors use pistons to do this work, which move in and out of a cylindrical mouth piece that lets the air go in and out without altering the compression process and only releasing the air when it will be useful. Rotary screw compressors use two helical screws fitted into one another, rotating quickly in opposite directions, which pulls the air in small doses, compressing it while it cycles through the rotating screws. Both of these use oil to lubricate internal parts, and oil separators are often attached downstream to filter out contaminating lubricants, although some rotary screw compressors are oil-free. Using oilless air compressors is ideal for applications where a pure air stream is required, as downstream filter cleaning can add to maintenance costs and is not guaranteed to capture every drop of oil. Centrifugal air compressors are dynamic compressors that use a rotating impeller to create air velocity, which is pushed through a diffuser and converted into pressure. The compressed air is then stored in a holding tank or released into a pressure system, ready for work.

Compressors have two components: a compressing mechanism and a power source for the compressing mechanism. The energy for compression can be taken from a gas-powered motor, an electrical motor or a power takeoff. The various compressing mechanisms that do the actual work of compression are pistons, vanes and impellers. By storing and compressing the air, air compressors convert mechanical energy into pneumatic energy. Air compressor manufacturers often design products that can be driven by natural gas, which greatly reduces cost and energy consumption. Until recently, air compressors have mainly been used for surface finishing, cleaning and inflating applications - its use as a power generator has not been seriously explored until now. As automotive manufacturers search for alternatives to internal combustion engines, many manufacturers are beginning to experiment with the clean pneumatic power provided by air compressors. Because of air compressors' importance to an extensive variety of industrial operations, their widespread use will continue into the foreseeable future.

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Air Compressor Types

  • 12 volt air compressors are machines that require 12 volts of power to reduce the volume of air in a tank in order to increase the pressure.
  • Axial compressors have flow in the axial direction by accelerating air tangentially with blades attached to the rotors. This increases the kinetic energy of the air and diffuses it through static vanes to increase its pressure.
  • Centrifugal compressors act on air with blades on a rotating impeller. The rotary motion of the air causes an outward velocity from the centrifugal force, and then a diffuser transforms this outward velocity into pressure.
  • Compressors are mechanisms used for compressing air to higher than atmospheric levels.
  • Diaphragm compressors achieve compression with the use of a flexing diaphragm that moves back and forth in a closed chamber; the design is an alteration of the reciprocating piston concept. The motion of the connecting rod under the diaphragm causes the flexing and only a short stroke is needed to generate similar pressure effects as those of a reciprocating piston compressor.
  • Double acting compressors use both sides of the piston to compress the air, both the forward and the back stroke.
  • Ejector compressors use a high-pressure jet stream. The drive of the stream is transferred to the low pressure of the air.
  • Electric air compressors are machines that use electrical power to pressurize air before releasing it in a high energy form.
  • Free piston compressors have an adjustable compression piston that moves along the length of a steel cylinder column. The guiding and compression pistons collide at the return stroke because the compressed air pushes back the compression piston in the last stage.
  • Gas air compressors are gas-fueled machines that reduce the volume of air in order to use the pressurized air for power.
  • Industrial air compressors are mechanical devices used for industrial purposes that provide air at higher than atmospheric pressure.
  • Labyrinth compressors are oil-free and work without piston rings. A series of labyrinths creates the seal between the cylinder wall and the piston.
  • Liquid ring compressors have only one moving part, the impeller shaft assembly. The service liquid rotating in its casing forms the liquid ring seal, and air enters through the suction port, moves between the impeller blades and is compressed before discharging.
  • Lobe compressors use two mating lobes on different shafts that rotate in opposite directions to capture incoming air and compress it against the casing. Lobe compressors supply very high flows at pressure ranges between non-positive displacement compressors and other types of positive displacement units.
  • Mini air compressors are machines that reduce the volume of air in order to pressurize it and convert mechanical energy into pneumatic power. The pressurized air can then be used for a variety of applications; due to the limited size of mini air compressors, however, the output is small and limited to 250 pounds per square inch (PSI).
  • Non-positive displacement compressors depend on motion to transfer energy from the compressor rotor to the air. Initial acceleration of the air produces a negative (suction) pressure at the inlet port, which draws air in.
  • Oilless air compressors provide air and power for various tools, machinery and manufacturing processes in industries that require clean air.
  • Portable air compressors are hand-held systems that do not require an electrical outlet.
  • Positive displacement compressors work by successively trapping a volume of air and reducing it, thereby increasing the pressure. The quantity of heat produced rises proportionally to the pressure rise, resulting in substantial temperature increases of the air and the compressor itself.
  • Reciprocating compressors move a piston to the top of a cylinder to create compression. These require either water or air cooled.
  • Rotary compressors reduce the volume of air by compressing it between intermeshing, counter-rotating components that force the air into a tank.  
  • Screw compressors use two contra-rotating rotors that turn in a synchronous mesh. As air enters the sealed chamber, the rotors revolve, reducing the volume of trapped air and sending it compressed through the discharge port at the designated pressure level.
  • Swash plate compressors move pistons parallel to the crankshaft, either by a cam or by a plate mounted axially on the shaft and inclined to it.
  • Used air compressors are previously owned machines that reduce the volume of air in order to increase its pressure.
  • Vane compressors have an eccentrically mounted rotor that is the only moving part and rotates within the stator. As the rotor rotates, centrifugal force forces the vanes from their slots, forming compression cells, and this pumping action of the vanes sliding in and out moves the air from the inlet side of the compressor to the outlet side.

Air Compressor Terms

Aftercooling - The removal of heat when the compression process is complete.

Air Pressure Regulator - A component of an air compressor that allows the user to adjust the air pressure in the air line.

Backflow - A condition caused by a difference in pressure in which air will flow back into the distribution pipes rather than in the intended direction.

Casing - The element that houses the rotor and related internal components of an air compressor. This includes the integral inlet and discharge connections.

Collapse Pressure - The lowest amount of differential pressure something is able to withstand without deformation.

Compression/Pressure Ratio - The ratio of the absolute inlet pressure to the absolute outlet pressure. Compression/pressure ratio typically applies to a single stage of compression but could also apply to a full multistage compressor.

Cylinder - The piston compartment in an actuator or reciprocating compressor.

Discharge Piping - The piping between the aftercooler and the compressor and the air receiver and the cooler separator.

Drive - A flange-mounted belt drive, motor or direct coupling between the engine or motor and the compressor.

Full-Load - The operation of an air compressor at full speed, having a completely open inlet and discharge delivering upper limit airflow.

Guide Vane - An adjustable fixed part that directs the flow of air approaching the inlet of an impeller.

Impeller - The component of the rotating element of a dynamic compressor that gives energy to the flowing medium through centrifugal force. An impeller is comprised of blades that rotate with the shaft.

Intank Check Valve - A valve intended to stop air pressure and volume from slipping out of the compressor tank back into compressor heads when the compressor is not running.

Intercooler - Heat Exchangers that eliminate heat produced during compression between the stages of a compressor.

Load Factor - The ratio of the maximum rated compressor load to the average compressor load within a certain period.

Load/Unload Control - A method of control that permits the compressor to run either at no load or at complete load at the same time that the driver remains at a constant speed. Load/unload control is an attempt to match air delivery to the demand.

Maximum Pressure Rating - The highest-pressure level recommended for a compressor.

No Load - When an air compressor is running at full RPM and is wide open, but no air is sent because the inlet is either closed off or modified and will not allow inlet air to be trapped.

Noncooled Compressor Cylinders - Compressor cylinders on a reciprocating compressor that run at low compression ratios and undergo little temperature change. These are used mainly in oil and gas field applications.

Pressure Inlet - The total pressure (static plus velocity) at the inlet flange of the compressor.

Pressure Rise - The difference between the intake pressure and the discharge pressure

Pumping/Surge - The reversal of flow in a dynamic compressor. Pumping/surge takes place when the handled capacity is reduced to an insufficient pressure in order to maintain flow.

Rotor - A revolving element of a compressor. It consists of the impeller and shaft and may have shaft sleeves and a thrust balancing device.

Shaft - The part that the rotating elements are attached to and through which energy is transferred from the prime mover.

Shaft Sleeves - Mechanisms used to position the impeller or to shield the shaft.

Sole Plate - The pad the compressor is mounted on. This is implanted in concrete and usually metallic.

Stack Up - The interaction between the stages of a centrifugal compressor. In the design of a multi-stage compressor, every stage can only run at one point of its characteristic curve, and the determination of this point is done through the design conditions of temperature, flow and pressure.

Surge Limit - The capacity in a dynamic compressor under which the process becomes unsteady.

Thrust Balancing Device - Part of a revolving element that offsets the thrust of compressor impellers.