Horsepower Required to Compress Air Equation and Calculator

Fluid Flow Table of Contents
Hydraulic and Pneumatic Knowledge

Horsepower Required to Compress Air Equations and Calculator

The following calculator and equations gives data for the theorectical horsepower required to compress air from atmospheric pressure to various pressure - to mean effective pressures.

Related:

Horsepower Required to Compress Air Table Chart

Horsepower required to compress one cubic foot of free air per minute (isothermally and adiabatically) from atmospheric pressure (14.7 pounds per square inch) to various gage pressures. Single-Stage Compression, initial temperature of air, 60°F, jacket cooling not considered.

Adiabatically

The equation for calculating the horsepower required to compress isothermally a given volume of free air to a given pressure:

Isothermally

Where:

HP = Horsepower (ft-lb/sec) Adiabatic and Isothermally
N = number of stages in which compression is accomplished
P = atmospheric pressure in pounds per square inch
P₂ = absolute terminal pressure in pounds per square inch
P₂ = G_p + P in pounds per square inch
G_p = Gauge Pressure in pounds per square inch
V = volume of air, in cubic feet, compressed per minute, at atmospheric pressure
n = exponent of the compression curve = 1.41 for adiabatic compression