shop-talk
[Top] [All Lists]

RE: Ray's Air Compressor thread

To: Steve Flatt <sflatt@gislab.teale.ca.gov>
Subject: RE: Ray's Air Compressor thread
From: "W. R. Gibbons" <gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu>
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 17:26:36 -0500 (EST)
On Wed, 11 Dec 1996, Steve Flatt wrote:

> Assuming you put two compressors in parallel
> giving you maybe 20CFM, how do you ensure that you
> really deliver maximum volume to the tool in
> use? 
> 
> Is it simply a matter of using the largest 
> diameter pipe/hose you can fit between tank and tool?
> 
> Does the smallest diameter hose/pipe/fitting
> that exists between the tank and the tool limit the
> volume of air that reaches the blaster?
> -----------------------------------

I think that's it.  If you want 20 cfm and you have restrictions causing
high resistance to flow, you either have to increase the pressure enough
to force 20 cfm through to the tool you are using, or you have to
increase the size of every connection between the manifold and the tool

It should approximate:  Flow = Pressure/Resistance

where resistance is proportional to the length of the hose and inversely 
proportional to the fourth power of the radius of the hose.  That last 
means that just increasing the hose size from 3/8 to 5/8 will cause a big 
reduction in resistance to flow.

   Ray Gibbons  Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
                Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
                gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu  (802) 656-8910


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>