Special purpose applications for BOGE piston compressors

BOGE analyzes an electro-pneumatic piston driven by a two-cylinder piston compressor

Challenge

Creating and testing custom solutions

Precisely developed compressors and system solutions from BOGE deliver compressed air for highest demands and any requirement. Apart from a broad array of ready-made products, BOGE offers custom solutions and customer-specific OEM products for compressed-air applications. A particularly interesting task was the development of a two-cylinder piston compressor as the drive for an electro-pneumatic main piston.

This concept involves a main piston that is driven by a piston compressor with modified valves and a defined air cushion. The air mass of the cushion is, in theory, constant. Such a system can be a high-frequency alternative for pneumatic cylinders to create a great impact on an assembly.

The differential equation of the main piston’s dynamics and the nonlinear compression with a variable volume describe a system which exceeds the possibilities of calculations with paper and pen. The development was trying to facilitate the selection of a suitable compressor and to find the optimum dimensions of the connections between the compressor and the main piston with respect to as many influencing factors as possible.

BOGE Kompressor BOGE Kompressor
Solution

Simulating different variants with SimulationX

With freely configurable models from the Power Transmission libraries, such as crank shafts and electric motors, it was possible to simulate and analyze different solutions in a user-friendly and fast manner. The question whether the main piston should be driven in single or dual mode, could be answered with a few mouse clicks.

Besides basic layouts, also non-steady-state variables, such as the motor’s electric power consumption during start-up, could be simulated alongside. The system could be systematically modified through iterative steps to meet certain requirements, such as the main piston’s kinetic energy at a certain operating point.

The following figure shows the results for the volume between compressor and main piston in order to identify when the piston could no longer follow the displacements of the compressor.

Diagramm Diagramm
Benefits

Saving costs and man power by reducing the number of hardware tests

Many real systems can only be vaguely analyzed with highly simplified abstractions. SimulationX, however, allows for fast and easy ways to describe and understand complex physical issues thanks to the clear model structure.

In this case, a complex task involving power transmission and thermodynamics could be described effectively and was optimized through variation calculations. Simulations cannot replace practical test entirely, but they allow for early decisions in the right direction.

Simulation in energy technology

The multiphysics simulation software SimulationX is available to beginners with several pre-configured application packages for various tasks in energy engineering. Learn more!

SIMULATIONX FOR BEGINNERS