What is Reciprocating Pump And Reciprocating Compressor?

Generally, a Reciprocating is a to and fro motion (or action or motion) of any component. The reciprocating can be achieved with the help of any motor or any source. So, the reciprocating pump and reciprocating compressors are the two devices that have to and fro motions (or movement) to perform particular task.

Reciprocating Pump is a type of pump that is used to deliver the fluid (either liquid or gas but mostly liquids) from the lower head to the higher heads by using the to and fro (reciprocating) movement. As we see that a normal Pump will work with Impeller, where the impeller will create a vacuum and sucks the fluid from the lower heads then the impellor will increase the pressure of the fluid to send it to the higher heads. But when it comes to the centrifugal pump; the pump works with a piston instead of an impellor.

The word Compressor explains that pressing something (or compressing something). So, as the word says, the reciprocating compressor is a type of compressor that will increase the pressure of fluids (liquid or gases but mostly gases) to an extent and store it in a cylinder for future purposes.

What can you learn from this post?

• Reciprocating Pump Working Principle
  
• How Does Reciprocating Pump Work?
  • Advantages Of Reciprocating Pump
  • Applications Of Reciprocating Pump
• How Does Reciprocating Compressor Work?
  
• • Types Of Reciprocating Compressor
    • Single Acting Reciprocating Compressor
    • Double Acting Reciprocating Compressor
  • Advantages Of Reciprocating Compressor
  • Applications Of Reciprocating Compressor
• Difference Between Reciprocating Pump And Reciprocating Compressor
• Conclusion

Reciprocating Pump Working Principle:

The reciprocating pump working principle is the conversion of rotary motion of the motor to the reciprocating motion (to and fro) of the piston. Reciprocating Pump is all about the piston’s to and fro movement.

The piston can move up and down (to and fro) movements. The piston with connecting rod is connected to the crankshaft and the crankshaft is able to rotate with the help of a motor. As the motor rotates, the crankshaft rotates and automatically the rotary motion of the crankshaft is converted into the reciprocating motion of the piston.

As like automobile engines, the Piston will be located in the Cylinder. The piston head in the automobiles is called the Combustion Chamber whereas; in Reciprocating Pump the piston head is the space that the piston will compress the fluid, as a result, we achieve high Pressure.

So, due to this working principle, the reciprocating pump will achieve its aim. Now, let us see how does reciprocating pump works?

How Does Reciprocating Pump Work?

Reciprocating Pump consists of two valves Suction Valve, and Discharge Valve; the suction valve is used to suck the fluid into the cylinder and the discharge value is used to discharge the pressured fluid to the higher heads.

As told the rotary motion of the motor is converted into the reciprocating motion whenever the piston moves downward direction (due to the rotation of the motor), the vacuum is created at the heads of the piston and sucks the fluid into the cylinder through the suction valve. When the piston moves upward direction, the fluid will be compressed with high force and achieves high pressure. The high pressure is sent to the higher heads through the discharge valve.

As the reciprocating pump increases the pressure with upward movement of the piston so, it is also called Positive Displacement Pumps.

Advantages Of Reciprocating Pump:

The advantages of the reciprocating pump are as follows:

• Reciprocating Pumps helps us to increase the pressure of the liquids for delivering to the higher heads.
• They do even pick the liquids from the lower heads which decreases the human effort.

Applications Of Reciprocating Pump:

The applications of the reciprocating pump are vast and precious. the applications of reciprocating pump are as follows

• Reciprocating Pump is used in the Automobile Workshops to clean the parts whenever the parts of automobiles need to repair, they are in a stage that the oily layer over the parts are unable be remove easily so, to remove them the pressurized water is required.
• Reciprocating Pump is used in Industries and factories to achieve high pressurized liquid because the liquid needs to travel a long distance for cooling the machine components.

These are the main places of applications of reciprocating pump.

Reciprocating Compressor Working Principle:

As similar to the Reciprocating Pump, the reciprocating compressor working principle is to convert the rotary motion of the motor to the reciprocating motion of the piston. It will compress the air or gases and stores them in the cylinder (stores the potential energy).

The construction of the reciprocating compressor is as same as the reciprocating pump but the reciprocating compressor importance is a little bit more precious than the reciprocating pump.  

How Does Reciprocating Compressor Work?

The Sole purpose of the pump is to deliver the Fluid by increasing its pressure by using the Reciprocating motion and even the Reciprocating Compressor is also used to increase the pressure of a gas and to store it in a closed tank (or cylinder) at a Constant Pressure.

The reciprocating compressor consists of a cylinder, air filter, motor, storage tank. As the motor rotates, the piston will move downward (bottom dead center) direction and a vacuum is created at the head then the air is sucked through the suction valve into the cylinder; as soon as the air is sucked, the piston will move upward direction (top dead center) where the compression of air is taking place.

The compressed air is further moves to the storage tank through the delivery valve. Here before sucking the air, the air filter will filter the air to remove the dust particles in the air.

Types Of Reciprocating Compressor:

There are different types of reciprocating compressors according to piston acting, and number of stages. According to piston acting the reciprocating compressor are two types, they are

• Single Acting Reciprocating Compressor: The single acting reciprocating compressor is the basic type of compressor where the sucking and compressing of air by the piston is achieved at only one side. In this, the compressing air quantity is less compared to double acting reciprocating compressor.
• Double Acting Reciprocating Compressor: The double acting reciprocating compressor is an advanced type of compressor where the sucking and compressing of air by the piston is achieved at both sides of the piston. It means the cylinder consists of two suction valves and two delivery valves. Due to this double acting, the air quantity that’s been compressed is high.

According to the number of stages, the types of reciprocating compressor are

• Single Stage Reciprocating Compressor: The single stage reciprocating compressor does consist of one cylinder and one piston in it. It means the single stage reciprocating compressor can compressor the less quantity of air compares to the multi stage reciprocating compressor.
• Multi Stage Reciprocating Compressor:

As single stage reciprocating compressor consists of one cylinder and similarly, the multi stage reciprocating compressor consists of more than one cylinder for compressing the air. This type of compressor is used to increase the pressure of air to a high extent.

At first, the air will be sucked and compressed by the first cylinder then the air is moved to the second cylinder. In the second cylinder, the pressure of the air is increased or doubled.

Like so, according to the requirement, the compressor is installed with a number of cylinders to achieve high pressure.

Advantages Of Reciprocating Compressor:

The advantages of the reciprocating compressor are

• The reciprocating compressors can increase the air to the required level.
• Reciprocating compressors help us to store the pressurized air for long time.
• It decreases the human effort in pressurizing the air.

Applications Of Reciprocating Compressor:

The applications of reciprocating compressor are

• Reciprocating Compressor is used in the workshops.
• Reciprocating Compressors used in the air filling stations.
• Reciprocating compressors are also used in factories and automobile assembly shops for removing dust particles.

Difference Between Reciprocating Pump And Reciprocating Compressor:

The Difference between reciprocating pump and reciprocating compressor are as follows:

Conclusion:

The working principles of the Reciprocating Pump and Reciprocating Compressors are the same but the usage of both is different. Compressors can be seen in our daily routine life but the reciprocating pumps are used for high-level operations so, they cannot be found in daily life. Of course, both do have similar importance and advantages according to their working, and applications.