An oxygen compressor refers to a compressor used to pressurize and transport oxygen. As the core technical equipment in this field, this article focuses on analysis of the oxygen compressor principles, design and applications.

Overview of Oxygen Compressor Technology

In the industrial gas sector, oxygen pressurization and delivery primarily utilize two technical approaches: liquid oxygen vaporization pressurization and direct compression using oxygen compressors.

The former generates high-pressure gas through phase-change expansion of liquid oxygen in heat exchangers, while the latter employs specialized compressors for direct gas-phase oxygen compression. This article focuses on analyzing oxygen compressors as core technical equipment.

Oxygen compressors are specialized devices designed for compressing pure oxygen, fundamentally differing from standard air compressors. Due to oxygen’s strong oxidizability and combustion-supporting properties (high-pressure contact with oils may cause explosions), their design and manufacturing must adhere to stringent safety standards.

According to ISO 15001, oxygen compressors present an explosion risk three orders of magnitude higher than conventional compressors, necessitating unique structural designs and material selections.

Working principle and process of oxygen compressor

The core technology of the oxygen compressor lies in its integrated gas separation and compression system. The intelligent workflow of the system includes five precisely coordinated key stages, forming a complete technical chain from air treatment to high-purity oxygen output.

Air Pretreatment

The air pretreatment stage is the cornerstone of the entire process. It uses a multi-stage air filters system to gradually remove suspended particles ≥ 0.01μm in the air, including dust, microorganisms and other impurities.

The filtration system usually includes a primary metal filter, a HEPA high-efficiency filter element and an activated carbon adsorption layer for triple protection; at the same time, the ambient air is accurately adjusted to the optimal compression range of 15-25℃ through an intelligent temperature control device.

This temperature control process can not only improve the subsequent compression efficiency, but also effectively prevent ice blockage caused by water vapor condensation in low temperature environments.

Multi-stage Compression

The multi-stage compression link adopts an isothermal compression design concept similar to that of centrifugal compressor. By decomposing the total compression ratio into multi-stage compression units (usually 3-5 stages), the compression ratio of each stage is strictly controlled within 3:1. This staged compression strategy can significantly reduce the temperature rise of a single stage.

The shell and tube cooler configured between stages adopts countercurrent heat exchange technology and uses a cooling water circulation system to continuously suppress the gas temperature to below 40°C, ensuring that the thermal stress of the material is at a safe threshold.

After multi-stage synergy, different oxygen compressors for sale in the market can ultimately output 30MPa-level medical oxygen or 300MPa-level ultra-high-pressure oxygen for aerospace use, with a pressure regulation accuracy of ±0.5%.

Condensation Purification

The condensation purification system plays a role that similar to the air water separator in an ordinary air compressor, it introduces high-pressure gas into the plate-fin condenser. The device adopts microchannel heat exchange technology.

Under the action of liquid nitrogen refrigerant, the gas temperature drops sharply to -50°C within 3 seconds. This rapid cooling process can make more than 99% of the water vapor phase change to liquid and separate by gravity sedimentation.

The dew point temperature of the system is stably maintained at an extremely dry level of -70°C; the subsequent cyclone separator forms a centrifugal force field with a tangential speed of 150m/s, which can efficiently remove oil mist particles and solid impurities with a diameter of more than 5μm, ensuring that the gas cleanliness meets the NAS 1638 Class 5 standard.

Molecular Sieve Adsorption

The molecular sieve adsorption unit deploys 13X zeolite molecular sieve material, whose 0.3-0.8nm microporous structure produces a selective adsorption effect on nitrogen molecules (dynamic diameter 0.364nm), while oxygen molecules (0.346nm) can pass freely.

The dual-tower adsorption bed achieves 0.3-second rapid switching through the solenoid valve group, and during the adsorption stage of tower A, tower B is simultaneously regenerated by 150°C hot nitrogen purge.

Like the desiccant dryer working principle, this alternating operation mode steadily increases the oxygen purity to a medical grade level of 93%±3%, while ensuring the system’s continuous operation capacity for more than 8,000 hours.

Terminal Compression

The terminal compression stage adopts an oil-free lubrication system consisting of a ceramic-coated piston and a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) guide ring, which completely eliminates the risk of oil pollution while keeping the friction coefficient below 0.1.

The air tank is equipped with a 0.1mm thick titanium alloy bursting diaphragm, which can achieve safe discharge with a response speed of less than 5ms when the pressure exceeds the limit; the integrated intelligent control system uses the PID algorithm to dynamically adjust the compression ratio and output flow through real-time data feedback from the mass flow meter and pressure sensor, achieving a flow control accuracy of ±1% in the range of 0.5 – 50 m³/min.

Diverse Application Scenarios

Healthcare Applications

Home oxygen concentrators: Integrated PSA technology with 0.5-5L/min adjustable flow.

Hospital central oxygen supply: Networked compressor clusters maintain <0.5% pressure fluctuation.

Emergency systems: Vehicle-mounted compressors for hyperbaric chambers (-30°C cold start).

Industrial Manufacturing

Steelmaking: 3-5MPa oxygen supply for enriched blast systems.

Glass production: 15MPa compressors for oxy-fuel technology.

Wastewater treatment: High-pressure aeration systems reduce energy consumption by 40%.

Advanced Technology Fields

Aerospace engineering: Dual-mode liquid/gaseous oxygen compressors for vacuum-atmosphere transitions.

Energy storage: Oxygen-hydrogen co-compression systems achieve 75% cycle efficiency.

Deep-sea exploration: Titanium-hulled compressors operational at 6,000m depths.

Explore Kotech Compressor

From compressor selection to installation to maintenance, no matter what types of compressor, Kotech Compressor can provide a complete guide with optimal advice and solutions for your project.

Now our website has opened a new function named “bookcase”. In the future, the updates of the Kotech’s products will be shown to this bookcase in a timely manner.

Click below to know more about the air compressors we manufactured.