Compressed Air technology
Rotary Screw
The default for continuous plant air.
Schematic section, not to scale
How it works
Oil-injected rotary screw compressors are the most common choice for continuous industrial compressed air. Two helical rotors compress air while injected oil seals, cools and lubricates.
Air is trapped between intermeshing male and female rotors and compressed as the cavity shrinks along their length. Oil is separated from the discharge air and recirculated.
Performance range
Roughly 5-500+ hp; typical working pressure around 100-150 psig
Typical industry range. Exact capability is model specific, see each model’s curve.
In the catalogue · 2,236 models from 33 manufacturers
- Motor power
- 2.2 – 1,000 kW · 2,096 models
- Weight
- 68 – 11,600 kg · 1,963 models
- Free air delivery
- 10.2 – 12,200 m³/h · 1,495 models
- Max. pressure
- 2.94 – 34.5 bar · 1,468 models
- Noise level
- 55 – 88 dB(A) · 1,123 models
Spread of each model’s own rated figure, as published by its manufacturer.
Advantages & tradeoffs
- Continuous duty
- Wide size range
- Efficient with VSD at variable demand
- Oil carry-over requires treatment for sensitive uses
- Separator and oil service
- Part-load efficiency depends on control
Best applications
Common in Woodworking + CNC, Packaging, Plastics, Printing, Chemical, Automotive, Metalworking, General Manufacturing, Oil + Gas, Power Generation, Pulp + Paper, Water + Wastewater, Mining.
Maintenance
Oil, oil filter, separator and air filter changes; cooler cleaning; drain checks.
Energy characteristics
Specific-energy comparisons (kW per unit of flow at your operating point) appear here as sourced performance curves are added. Until then, compare models directly on the Performance Map.
Open the Performance Map