Air oil separator is an important filter device installed after the air outlet of the compressor air end, it is collectively called the three filters of the air compressor along with the air filter and the oil filter. Air oil separator is a key component that determines the quality of compressed air.
Its main purposes are to separate the oil and air from the oil-gas mixture exhausted by compressor, allowing the compressor to discharge almost pure compressed air for users, extend the air compressor life expectancy, also make the lubricating oil to return to the circulation of the lubrication system.
After passing through the air oil separator, the mist-like lubricating oil can be almost completely filtered out from the compressed air, the residual oil particle size can be controlled below 0.1um, and the oil content can be less than 3ppm (parts per million).Air oil separator mainly consists of three parts, namely air oil separator tank, air oil separator element and the oil return system. The air oil separator tank is a cylindrical metal barrel that can withstand pressure far higher than the exhaust pressure of the air compressor, so that it can ensure the safety of the separation processes of oil and compressed air, and it is the key of how to regulate pressure on air compressor.what does air oil separator doThe element of air oil separator is composed of multiple tightly fitted ultra-fine fiber layers, a metal support layer, and a gravity sedimentation layer.
The ultra-fine fiber layers are made of multi-layers of fine glass fibers, which intercept and aggregate the fine oil particles and oil mist in the compressed air, so that they are concentrated at the bottom of the element and returned to the compressor lubrication system through the oil return pipe.The oil return system of air oil separator is composed of multiple metal pipes. There is a larger pipe near the bottom of the air oil separator, which is called oil drain pipe. Most of the separated lubricating oil will flow through this pipe and pass through the after-cooler.
After cooling, it will return back to the air compressor lubrication system. There is also a smaller pipe on the top of the air oil separator barrel, which is called the oil return pipe. It connects the air oil separator element and the air compressor air end. The oil separated by the air oil separator element will pass through it and return to the air end to continue to participate in lubrication.
In addition, the air oil separator also includes a minimum pressure valve and a vent pipe installed on the top. The function of the minimum pressure valve is to help the air compressor system to establish a certain internal pressure at startup, so that the lubricating oil can obtain initial circulation power. Before the pressure value set by the minimum pressure valve is reached, the compressed air in the air oil separator cannot be discharged, thus make the air oil separator capable on how to regulate pressure on air compressor.
The function of the vent pipe is to work with the solenoid valve to make the air compressor enter the shutdown venting or unloading venting state after the air compressor is shut down or reaches the maximum set pressure, so as to ensure that the pressure in the air oil separator is maintained at a reasonable level.