When compressed air is used as an industrial power source or process gas, it inevitably contains a variety of harmful impurities, which mainly come from the atmosphere itself and the working process of the air compressor. The primary problem is the intrusion of water, including liquid water, water vapor and condensed water. Water vapor in the atmosphere is sucked into the compressor and remains in a gaseous state when the temperature rises after compression, but when the compressed air is subsequently cooled in the pipeline or equipment, these water vapors condense into liquid water. Liquid water can cause equipment corrosion, pipeline blockage, lubrication failure, and damage the sealing of pneumatic components, and even cause product quality problems in some applications. Effectively removing these various forms of water, especially reducing the dew point of compressed air to a safe level, is one of the most core functions of the air source processor.
In addition to water, compressed air is also mixed with a large number of solid particles from the atmospheric environment and internal wear of the compressor. These particles include dust, pollen, pipeline rust, metal grinding chips, sealing material debris, etc. They are like tiny "abrasives". When flowing at high speed, they will constantly wash and wear the cylinder wall, valve seals and precision nozzles, accelerate the aging and damage of components, cause the actuator to jam or leak, and seriously affect the reliability and life of the pneumatic system. The efficient air source processor can intercept solid particles of different sizes through its internal multi-stage precision filtration structure to provide clean compressed air for downstream equipment.
Even more difficult is oil pollution. Except for oil-free compressors, most oil-injection lubricated compressors will mix a small amount of lubricating oil into the compressed air in the form of liquid oil droplets, oil mist or oil vapor. Even the output gas of oil-free compressors usually contains oil mist from the industrial environment. These oils will accumulate on the inner wall of the pipeline to form viscous sludge, hindering airflow, contaminating products, deteriorating sealing materials, and may block delicate instruments and small orifices. Therefore, removing oil pollution is another indispensable key task of modern air source processors, which usually requires a combination of coalescing filters and activated carbon adsorption devices to achieve deep purification.
