Method for detecting and monitoring condensate in an oil system of an oil-injected compressor or vacuum pump

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12180963-B2
Application number	US-202218280605-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2022
Priority date	Mar 9, 2021
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for detecting condensate in an oil system of a compressor, having an inlet and an outlet. The method incudes the steps of: determining the humidity at the inlet and at the outlet or downstream of the outlet of the compressor; determining the amount of water vapor that enters and exits the compressor based on the humidity determined at the inlet and the outlet or downstream of the outlet; determining the amount of condensate that remains in the compressor by determining the difference between the amount of condensate that enters and exits the compressor; storing the amount of condensate that remains; and repeating the aforementioned steps at regular intervals and storing the amount of condensate and how long said condensate remains in the compressor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented-method for detecting and monitoring condensate in an oil system ( 2 ) of an oil-injected compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump, having an inlet ( 4 ) for air to be compressed and an outlet ( 5 ) for compressed air, wherein the method comprises the following steps:
determining a humidity at the inlet ( 4 ) and at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) of the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump;
determining an amount of water vapor that enters the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump and amount of condensate that exits the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump based on the humidity determined at the inlet ( 4 ) and the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 );
determining an amount of condensate that remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump by determining the difference between the amount of condensate that enters the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump and the amount of condensate that exits the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump;
storing or keeping track of the amount of condensate that remains;
repeating or continuously carrying out the aforementioned steps at regular intervals and storing or keeping track of the amount of condensate and how long said condensate remains in the compressor or vacuum pump.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the step of regulating the temperature of the oil of the oil system ( 2 ) based on the amount of condensate that remains and how long the condensate remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump in order to regulate the temperature at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) of the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 2 , wherein the temperature of the oil of the oil system ( 2 ) is regulated by controlling the speed of a cooling fan ( 13 ), the amount of cooling water in a water cooler and/or the position of a thermostatic valve ( 11 ), whereby the cooling fan ( 13 ), water cooler and/or thermostatic valve ( 11 ) form part of the oil system ( 2 ).

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 2 , wherein the temperature of the oil of the oil system ( 2 ) is regulated by controlling the amount of oil that the oil system injects into the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the step of regulating the temperature of the air at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) based on the amount of condensate that remains and how long the condensate remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein, to determine the humidity at the inlet ( 4 ) of the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump, environmental parameters are used, which are determined or calculated by means of:
sensors ( 16 ) in the oil-injected compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump; and/or
sensors ( 16 ) in another machine located in the vicinity of said oil-injected compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump; and/or
a software agent configured to retrieve weather information, possibly supplemented by the location of the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the humidity at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) of the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump is done by calculating said humidity based on the humidity at the inlet ( 4 ) of the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump and using physics formulas.

8. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein, to carry out the steps of the method, an application or program in the cloud is used.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the step of keeping track of the amount of condensate and how long said condensate remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump in a histogram.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein, to determine the humidity at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) of the compressor ( 1 ), the humidity is determined in an oil separator ( 6 ) downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) of the compressor ( 1 ).

11. A system for detecting and monitoring condensate in an oil system ( 2 ) of an oil-injected compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump, the system comprising a processing unit configured to carry out the computer-implemented method according to claim 1 .

12. A computer program product containing instructions that can be executed on a computer in order to carry out the method according to claim 1 by executing said program on a computer.

13. A storage medium readable by a computer and containing the computer program product according to claim 12 .

14. A method for detecting and monitoring condensate in an oil system ( 2 ) of an oil-injected compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump, having an inlet ( 4 ) for gas to be compressed and an outlet ( 5 ) for compressed gas, wherein the method comprises the following steps:
determining a humidity at the inlet ( 4 ) and at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) of the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump;
determining an amount of water vapor that enters the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump and amount of condensate that exits the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump based on the humidity determined at the inlet ( 4 ), on the one hand, and at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ), on the other hand;
determining an amount of condensate that remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump by determining the difference between the amount of condensate that enters the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump and the amount of condensate that exits the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump;
storing or keeping track of the amount of condensate that remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump;
repeating or continuously carrying out the aforementioned steps at regular intervals and storing or keeping track of the amount of condensate and how long said condensate remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the method comprises the step of regulating the temperature of the oil in the oil system ( 2 ), based on the amount of condensate that remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump and on the amount of time which the condensate remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump in order to regulate the temperature at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) of the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the temperature of the oil in the oil system ( 2 ) is regulated by controlling the speed of a cooling fan ( 13 ), the flow of cooling water in a water cooler and/or the position of a thermostatic valve ( 11 ), whereby the cooling fan ( 13 ), water cooler and/or thermostatic valve ( 11 ) form part of the oil system ( 2 ).

17. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the temperature of the oil in the oil system ( 2 ) is regulated by controlling the amount of oil that the oil system injects into a compressor element or vacuum pump element that makes part of said compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump.

18. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the method comprises the step of regulating the temperature of the air at the outlet ( 5 ) or downstream of the outlet ( 5 ) based on the amount of condensate that remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump and on the amount of time that the condensate remains in the compressor ( 1 ) or vacuum pump.

19. The method according to claim 14 , wherein, in order to determine the humidit

Assignees

• Atlas Copco Airpower Nv

Inventors

• Firlefijn Jeroen Alois M

Classifications

• F04C2270/44

  Conditions at the outlet of a pump or machine · CPC title

• F04C2270/42

  Conditions at the inlet of a pump or machine · CPC title

• F04C2270/24

  Level of liquid, e.g. lubricant or cooling liquid · CPC title

• F04C2270/195

  Controlled or regulated · CPC title

• F04C2220/10

  Vacuum · CPC title