Reciprocating Compressors OPERATION MAINTENANCE By HEINZ P. BLOCK AND JOHNJ.HOEFNER

Reciprocating Compressors  OPERATION MAINTENANCE By HEINZ P. BLOCK AND JOHNJ.HOEFNER

Contents:

1 RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS ANDTHEIR APPLICATIONS

2 DESIGN ANDMATERIALS FOR RECIPROCATING COMPRESSOR COMPONENTS

3 OPERATION ANDMAINTENANCE OF RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS

4 OVERHAULAND REPAIR OF RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS

5 TROUBLESHOOTING COMPRESSOR PROBLEMS

6 PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCEFOR RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS

7 SAFETY IN OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE

Preface:

One doesn't have to do too much research to establish how old reciprocating compressor technology really is. If steam turbines ushered in die Industrial Revolution over 200 years ago, reciprocating compressors couldn't have been far behind. On a visit to an Iowa-based equipment manufacturer in 1989, I was amazed to see how a 1908-vintage reciprocating compressor satisfied their around-the-clock plant air requirements dependably and efficiently. Eighty years with nothing but routine, albeit conscientious, "tender loving care" maintenance! What an endorsement of the skill of the original designers, machine builders, and generations of maintenancecraftsmen. It's only fair to say that the old turn-of-the-century compressor was designed with greater margins of safety, or strength, or capacity to survive abuse than today's higher rotating speed and higher linear piston velocity reciprocating machines. Many of today's compressors are likely to have been designed with the emphasis on reduced weight, less floor space and, let's face it, least cost. The concepts of maintainability, surveillability, and true life cycle cost are too new to be taught in modem universities and engineering colleges. The reward system for project managers, process design contractors, and project engineers is largely based on capital cost savings and rapid schedules. Regrettably, even the commitment to maintenance excellence of many of today's managers and mechanic/technicians is not always as sound, or as rigorous and consistent, as it perhaps was a few decades ago.