Let's talk about the blower system in the VPSA oxygen production system

One of the significant differences between the VPSA oxygen production system and the PSA oxygen production system is the use of a blower system; it replaces the traditional air compressor to provide air intake power for the entire equipment, which is a strong guarantee for the stable and efficient operation of the system.

The blower system consists of an inlet air filter, a blower body and a matching motor, a bypass pneumatic switching butterfly valve and a manual butterfly valve, an outlet check valve, a heat exchanger, a bellows joint (or an elastic joint) and other complete sets of equipment. The following will introduce each component separately;

1. Air filter equipment

The function of this equipment is to filter the air and reduce the impurity content and particle size in the air. Generally speaking, the impurity content of the filtered air is required to be no more than 100mg/m3, and the particle size is no more than 1/2 of the minimum working clearance of the blower impeller.

2. Blower body and matching motor

The blower of the VPSA uses a Roots blower, which is a positive displacement gas blower that rotates in the opposite direction at a constant speed through a synchronous gear belt to push the inhaled gas from the inlet to the outlet. The key part of the Roots blower is the rotor, and the motor it is equipped with is generally a three-phase asynchronous motor, which is characterized by high efficiency, energy saving, reliable performance, and easy installation and maintenance.

3. Bypass pneumatic switching butterfly valve and manual butterfly valve

The purpose of setting the pneumatic switching butterfly valve is to perform external emptying operations, which will be controlled by the system program; the purpose of setting the manual butterfly valve is to effectively adjust the blower outlet pressure. The purpose of configuring the bypass pneumatic switching butterfly valve and manual butterfly valve is to improve the recovery rate of product oxygen. Generally, qualified pneumatic butterfly valves not only have a long service life and short switching time, but also can ensure that the valve body is leak-free during frequent switching.

4. Check valve

The check valve can protect the blower motor from reflux in the event of a sudden power outage, and a check valve is usually set at the blower outlet to achieve this.

5. Heat exchanger

The outlet temperature of the air after the blower is boosted can generally reach between 80℃-1000℃, which is a bit high for molecular sieve adsorption, which is not conducive to the molecular sieve achieving ideal working efficiency. Therefore, a heat exchanger is used to cool the gas to help the molecular sieve achieve efficient adsorption.

6. Bellows joint

The main function of the bellows joint is to help the Roots blower reduce noise. Usually, matching elastic joints and bellows joints are installed at the inlet and outlet of the blower. Another benefit of this is that it can reduce the impact of the blower's vibration on subsequent equipment.