Compressors are a perfunctory device that compresses or increases the pressure on gas or air.

As air is compressible, the applied pressure helps to reduce the volume of existing air. Liquids
are comparatively incompressible, so the main act of a pump is to pressurize and transfer the
fluid through a channel.

Temperature always tends to rise if compression ratio is increased. Considering this fact,
compressions are designed to perform on per stage basis and concurrently cooling the gas.

There are different types of Compressor ranging from the simple hand pump and the piston-
equipped compressor. Each compressor achieve different compression ratio & varies in
horsepower. Some compressors require oil to operate and some do not. Different types of
compressors are Centrifugal compressors, mixed-flow compressors, Axial-flow compressors,
Reciprocating compressors, Rotary screw compressors, Rotary vane compressors, Scroll
compressors, Diaphragm compressors, etc.

Centrifugal Compressors are used for continuous & stationary services in industries such as oil
refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants and natural gas processing plants. Their
application can be from 100 horsepower to thousands of horsepower. Centrifugal compressors
are used in small gas turbine engines or as the final compression stage of medium sized gas
turbines.

Mixed-flow compressors are correlated to centrifugal compressors, but have a radial and axial
velocity factor at the outlet from the rotor.

Rotary Screw Compressor is a type of gas compressor that uses two meshed rotating positive-
displacement helical screws to force the gas into a smaller space. These are usually used for
continuous operation in commercial and industrial applications and may be either stationary or
portable. Their application can be from 3 horsepower (2.2 kW) to over 1,200 horsepower
(890 kW).

Reciprocating compressors are piston driven & can be stationary or portable. It can be driven
with motors or internal combustion engines & reciprocates from 30 horsepower to 1000 hp.

Axial-flow compressors are a dynamic rotating compressor that uses arrays of fan-like aerofoils
to gradually compress the working fluid & are used where there is a requirement for a high
flow rate or a compact design.

Rotary vane compressors are the oldest of compressor technologies & are well suited to electric
motor drive. They are significantly quieter in operation than the equivalent piston compressor.

A scroll compressor, also known as scroll pump and scroll vacuum pump, uses two interleaved
spiral-like vanes to pump or compress fluids such as liquids and gases. The vane geometry may
be involutes, Archimedean spiral, or hybrid curves. They operate more smoothly, quietly, and
reliably than other types of compressors in the lower volume range.

A diaphragm compressor is known as membrane compressor and is a variant of the conventional

reciprocating compressor. They are used for hydrogen and compressed natural gas (CNG) as
well as in a number of other applications.

Compressors are also used in fields such as SCUBA diving, medicine manufacturing,
turbochargers, submarines, air conditioning, jet engines & refrigeration.