Just to clarify what I was attempting to suggest.
I am not talking about trying to cool down the compressor. I am talking about using the temperature differential (just like with a/c) to cause condensation of moisture. Plain and simple.
The Peltier chips are the most economical/efficient means to do that in a relatively small area that I know of to date.
AGAIN, I am NOT talking about trying to cool the compressor, but ONLY to improve moisture reduction by temperature differential.
All my best!
Kerry
I understood what you were suggesting and my response was based on that - trying to simply cool down the air charge once it leaves the compressor, not the whole compressor. Of course we have to remember that the hot air charge is the source of the heat in the compressor in the first place (setting aside the power that compresses the air for a moment - considering just that the "heat" in the compressor is transferred there from the heat of compression, with very little coming from friction and the like). There is a lot of thermal energy in "hot" 300 bar air (given that there is ~300 times as much air per unit volume involved).
You are correct that reducing the temperature of the air charge will help drive condensation out of it, or in that if we can chill the air charge enough (below final usage temperature) that there will be no further condensation to manage (and if not, we should pass it through a desiccant drier). Worst case, a "chiller" reduces the load on a good desiccant drier letting it last much longer between either recharge or replacement, which is a good thing.
You are
incorrect in your belief that Peltier chips are the most economical/efficient means to do that. That is what
@BlackICE and I have been writing about.
I simply don't understand your animosity.
I do not pick up any animosity, but I do sense frustration, which I share. You repeatedly post ideas (which is fine), but you seem to insist that if you think it is correct or will work as stated, that it will do so. When others point out issues, or even worse dare to explain why the idea might be completely wrong, then you are the one that shows animosity (as well as demonstrates your lack of desire to learn). Your "I can't test it but I know I'm right" attitude is the issue.
Bottom line - could it be done? Yes. Would it be the best way (or even a good way) to go about doing it? Not even close. The most effective way to do it (and cheapest) would be to run the charge air through a coalescing filter that would be placed in a bucket of ice water - maximum heat transfer rate (FAR higher than with Peltier coolers), highest resulting temperature differential, and lowest cost of both purchase and operation (freezing the ice cubes/ water bottles with a conventional compressor in a freezer would be more energy efficient than chilling the water with Peltier coolers). Just because that might not "sound right" to you does not mean that we are the ones that have wrong information for you. Math is math . . .
If you want to get real fancy you could fabricate a system which has the high pressure line that leaves each stage of compression run through a water cooler too, but it probably would not end up working any better than just dunking a metal coalescing filter in the bucket of ice water . . . the temperature of the final air charge before going in the air reservoir is what matters, not "where" it gets chilled.
