Screw Air Compressor Common Faults and Solutions

A machinery manufacturing company in Yangzhou has three screw air compressors that have been in operation for five years. Recently, these machines have frequently experienced issues such as excessively high operating temperatures, abnormally low exhaust pressure, and oil-gas leakage, leading to frequent shutdowns and impacting production schedules.

The company adopted the fault diagnosis methods and solutions proposed in this article to address the issues:

• To address excessively high operating temperatures: clean the cooling system of scale, replace the dedicated lubricating oil, and adjust the parameters of the cooling fan.
• To address abnormally low exhaust pressure: replace the air intake filter, repair the main rotor, adjust the rotor clearance, and seal the exhaust pipe leakage points.
• To address oil-gas leakage: replace the oil-gas separator core and aged seals, and adjust the lubricating oil level to the standard range.

After the repairs, the operating temperature of the equipment stabilized between 80-85°C, and the exhaust pressure stabilized at 0.85 MPa. The oil-gas leakage issue was resolved. The fault occurrence rate decreased by 80%, and the company saved approximately 80,000 CNY annually in maintenance costs and lubricating oil consumption.