List of the Types of Available Air Compressors

• Various kinds of air compressors are available to consumers. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

  Air compressors are mechanical devices that increase the pressure of air in the atmosphere around them. Usually this compressed air is used as a motivational force. Air compressors have countless applications in industry, construction, diving and a host of other fields. They are most widely used in automobiles and as power sources for modern carpentry tools. Many types of air compressors are in wide use.

Reciprocating

• Reciprocating air compressors use positive displacement to increase air pressure. They decrease air's volume, thereby increasing the air's pressure. Reciprocating air compressors use a piston in order to accomplish the displacement and compression. They are made in two major subtypes, single acting and double acting. Single-acting reciprocating air compressors use only one side of their piston, while double-acting reciprocating air compressors use both sides of their piston.

Rotary Screw

• Rotary screw air compressors are also positive displacement compressors, but they accomplish their task in a way different from reciprocating air compressors. These compressors have two rotors contained within a casing. The two rotors spin and compress air fed into the casing. The compressors are cooled by oil within the compressor, giving them the ability to work constantly for long periods of time.

Centrifugal

• Centrifugal air compressors are dynamic air compressors, meaning a rotating impeller acts upon the air they intake. This impeller must rotate at an extremely high rate of speed, much faster than in any other type of compressor. The compressor does not use oil in contact with the air in order to function.

V Shaped

• V-shaped air compressors have two units placed at a 90-degree angle to one another, sometimes connected to the same crank pin or crankshaft. They have valves mounted on the head of each cylinder unit. Sometimes, however, the higher capacity models are cooled by water.

Axial Flow

• Axial flow air compressors work in a manner very similar to that of centrifugal compressors. The only major difference is that the air flows in an axial direction. That is, the compressor's blades are mounted on the hub and turn on the shaft. The shaft rotates and sucks air into the compressor, where the high rate of rotation by the blades compresses the air.