Process gas compressor packages - back to basics

[loomba]

Hello All

This is my first post to the forum so please be gentle

I am working for a packager of process gas compressor packages in a Sales Engineer role. I joined the role earlier this year having not been in engineering for some seven or so years. For info, I have a Mechanical Engineering degree and was in the Navy for a few years as a Marine Engineer. I've gradually been getting to grips with the role but I do feel that I really need to improve my product knowledge rapidly, and I'm having to get my head in the books and go 'back to basics'. When I studied for my degree and worked as an egineer in the Navy, the world wide web wasn't really developed enough as a resource for engineering study and I'm interested to find out what resources are now available online to assist me in my revision (and also to save me digging out old books from my parents' attic!).

Would you be kind enough to point me in the direction of some online resources for the learning about the following, noting that I want to start at a quite basic level (first year University) and then take it from there:

- relationships between T, P and V
- mass and volume flowrates
- characteristics of gases commonly used in screw compressors
- explanation of mol weights (ie light and heavy gases)
- basics of P&IDs

Believe it or not, as an engineer in the navy I did not really have much requirement for interpretation of P&IDs and this role really requires for me to be up-to-speed on them so that's why that is included.

Thanks in advance for your help, I'm really keen to plug these gaps in my knowledge and look forward to seeing how you can help.

 

[zdas04]

The first screw compressor I ever saw was in 1973 in the aft engine room of USS Truxtun CGN 35. It was a dry screw and truly a piece of junk.

You didn't say if you were selling into plants or gas fields. Plants are too easy to be interesting, so I'll talk about field uses.

That is a tough question for field operations. Available information about flooded screw compressors is so WRONG relative to blood-guts-and-feathers field operations. I guess I entered the world of screws from a bizarre direction--I was a Field-Facilities Engineer who had a need and thought flooded screws could fill it. Like you I searched for resources and found a bit about their use in plants. Kind of misleading and glossed over the very existence of problems. I had problems. A lot of them. They all centered around the screw oil being hydrophillic and able to suck the humidity from the gas. That changes the characteristics of the oil in really bad way. I'm bringing this up, because I REALLY wish I had had this tidbit of information when I started using screws. Before you head into any of the traditional sources of information (JM Campbell has always been the go-to company for Facilities and Process Engineering) take a look at MuleShoe 2-Day Course Handout starting about slide 226 (page 227) to slide 247 to get a feel for the one issue that makes or breaks a field machine. My 5-day class spends a couple of hours on this, but that course is only done inside companies not as a public course. I plan to write a book based on my 5-day class (which covers all of the issues you listed), but that is a few years out.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.

 

[pmover]

perhaps this link will be helpful with PIDs:

http://publications.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-manuals/EM_1110-1-4008_sec/toc.htm

the PVT relationship can be learned in any thermodynamics textbook.

surely you can utilize google and find what you need?

good luck!
-pmover

 

[loomba]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I have been using Google but I was wondering if anyone knew of any particularly good resources they may have come across in their time. And I have the thermodynamics textbook dug out

 

[chicopee]

ME handbooks such as Kent,Mark or Chem Hdk Perry should put you on track.

 

[DLite30]

See if your company is a GMRC member, if so, there's a lot of good stuff you can dowload from their site.

 

[tomato5]

loomba I woud be happy to help you in this sarea do you already have satisfactory answers or are you open to inputs