Performance analysis of pre-cooling air compression system

Traditional air compression systems have a compressor and post freeze dryer configuration. The high temperature of the compressor leads to its low efficiency. A baseline system is first analysed, in which the air is cooled after it come out of the compressor. A compressor and pre-cooling freeze dryer configuration are proposed to improve efficiency of the system. In the second configuration, the air is cooled from 20 to -20 before it enters the compressor. The results show that when the pressure ratio is 7, the air compression system based on pre-cooling can save about 8% energy compared with post freeze dryer configuration. These results are then extended from single-stage compressors to multistage compressors and from low pressure ratios to high pressure ratios.