Since the early years of the 20th century, air compressors for manufacturing have played a vital role in a vast number of industrial applications. The ability to pressurize air has been a boon to productivity at factories and pressing plants in the furnishing, glass-making, food packaging and metal-fabrication industries, to name but a few of the many uses.
Today, industries are more reliant than ever on compressed air power as a driving force behind conveyors, tools and machinery. Of the different types of manufacturing air compressors, rotary screw models are among the most powerful and widely adopted.
What Is a Rotary Screw Air Compressor?
A rotary screw compressor is a type of pressurization machine that uses helical screws in a continuous motion to reduce the volume and maximize the pressure of incoming air. Built-in timing mechanisms within the machine hold the male and female screws, or rotors, in precise alignment. Functionally, the continuous rotary motion of compressors in this category stands in contrast to reciprocating compressors, which use a piston to pressurize air within a chamber.
Regarding air pressure, rotary screw compressors can generate massive amounts of power, the likes of which are vital in large-scale productions. So how does the manufacturing industry use air compressors?
Throughout all corners of the manufacturing sector, air compressors play a central role in the speed and efficiency of assembly lines. Without air compressors, manufacturers would face great difficulty holding product parts in place and stamping finished items with brand identifiers.
Clamping: Manufacturing compressors are responsible for the clamping devices that hold product parts in place during the assembly process. Without this key function, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to hold these parts still along the numerous shifts of the automotive assembly line. The pneumatic power of manufacturing air compressors clamps product parts into uniform positions and releases them at the conclusion of the process.
Stamping: Most products you see on the market come stamped with the manufacturer’s name or company logo. Rotary screw air compressors make all this possible by driving the molding and painting tools that place these marks on thousands of products daily. Without air compressors, the process would consume untold amounts of electrical power or require the use of manual labor.
Tool powering and cleaning: Pneumatic power drives all the various tools you see along a production line. From the lifting arms at an automotive plant to the filling and labeling tools at a beverage factory, air compressors drive most production components. Rotary screw air compressors also power the cleaning process, because they drive the tools that power wash and blow dry various metals, glasses and plastics along assembly lines.
Controls: At many factories, compressors for manufacturing are responsible for the movement of conveyor belts. From the start of the assembly line, where the raw components get introduced, to the final stages of the assembly where workers put the finishing touches into place, pneumatic power drives the movement of each single-file part along in uniform fashion.
Furniture Manufacturing
The vast majority of furniture pieces in today’s world are products of assembly lines, which compressed air mostly powers. If you’ve ever examined the pieces that make up your computer chair or sofa, chances are factory mechanisms powered by rotary screw air compressors put them into place.
Tool operation: Pneumatic power largely drives the work that goes into the production of home furnishings. Air-powered arms along a conveyor belt put the fasteners that hold together tables, chairs and sofas, as well as the nuts and bolts of assorted household fixtures.
Grasping: Without the guiding power of compressed air, how would it be possible to recreate thousands of replicas of the same furnishing design uniformly? The process would entail untold amounts of human labor and be subject to constant error. Compressed air holds each furnishing part in an exact position along every stage of a given assembly. This process makes the evenness of your tables and chairs possible.
Upholstering: In the old days, complex sewing equipment and painstaking labor upholstered sofas and chairs. Today, workers inside the world’s top furniture factories can complete the tightest and most intricate of upholstery designs in seconds with state-of-the-art production machines, most of which use air compressors throughout all stages of the process. Thanks to air compressors, furniture with unique and complex upholstery is widely available and affordable for the average consumer.
Air powering: Furnishings with painted or finished surfaces need to get coated uniformly and dried free of streaks or residue. If done manually, the process would be constantly prone to human error, and the finished products would inevitably retail at steep prices. Thanks to the capabilities manufacturing air compressors provide, factories can instantly finish and dry the pieces of furnishing items and produce thousands of error-free products every day.
Actuators: Pneumatic power drives the forces that move each furniture piece along a production line. Air compressors control the rate and speed at which items move along at every stage of the assembly, from the initial fastening to the final finishing. Thanks to this power, factory workers can complete large furnishing items in a matter of minutes, instead of hours.
Plastics, Silicone and Rubber Manufacturing
Manufacturing air compressors play a vital role in the production of hard synthetic materials, the likes of which comprise a vast range of appliance and furnishing parts. During a typical day, you will undoubtedly use numerous devices and switches made in whole or in part from one of the following air-powered processes.
Mold-press powering: Plastic starts in the form of granules that get melted into liquids, then poured into molding cavities where the plastic dries and hardens into its final shape. The process involves several complicated steps that would be dangerous if performed manually. Fortunately, air compressors make it possible for manufacturers to produce vast quantities of mold-pressed plastics on a daily basis.
Tool activating: The process of turning hot, liquefied plastics into solid shapes requires a large arsenal of factory machines, and air compressors activate each of them. The controlled power of a rotary screw air compressor evenly times each movement in the process to yield thousands of copies of the same shape. From plastic lids to rubber doorstops, the same process allows the creation of assorted miscellanea comprised of such materials.
Forming: Silicone and rubber products get made in an assortment of air-powered forming devices. Whether the synthetic product in question consists of one or several parts, each gets made from a rubber or silicone material poured or squeezed into a uniquely shaped forming cavity. Once released from the device, the hardened piece travels further along a compressed-air-driven assembly line, where cuts and trims form the final shape.
Injection molding: Through the process of air-powered injection molding, manufacturers can produce plastic parts with the most complex and detailed grooves, threads, sockets and cavities. If you examine the shapes of plastic pieces on various electronics, the intricacy of this process becomes readily apparent to the naked eye. Thanks to the capabilities of rotary screw compressors, workers can produce shapes in minutes that would take hours to make by hand.
Metal Fabrication
The processes involved in metal fabrication would be slow and inefficient by today’s standards if not for the power of air compressors. Manufacturing air compressors allow companies to generate metal parts to uniform perfection for a vast range of mass-produced household essentials. From the precision and pace of conveyor belts to the series of pneumatic tools that shape, coat and finish each metal piece, rotary screw air compressors carry massive amounts of metallic weight along, minute by minute.
Assembly station powering: Due to the weight of metal parts, the processes involved in metal-product assemblies require massive, high-powered factory arsenals. With air-powered assembly arms and lifting devices, manufacturers can produce uniform replicas of large metal products in large quantities by the hour. Without the capabilities air-powered factory equipment provides, the processes involved in metal production would be long and arduous.
Shaping: To mold metals into specific shapes, factory workers must first heat the alloys into molten lava form and then pour them into shaping cavities. After forming the cast, the metal shape gets released and cooled to a solid state. The whole process is responsible for the assorted metal parts you see on appliances, electronics, computer components and lighting fixtures. At metal factories, air-powered machinery drives each step in this process — pouring, trapping, releasing and cooling.
Tool driving: The power required to drive the machinery at metal factories relies on rotary screw air compressors, which turn ambient air into a moisture-free form of power. This released power is strong enough to drive the most heavy-duty tools and machines of the modern-day industrial sector. Without the power of air compression, metal product parts would be harder to produce and consequently rarer and more expensive.
Spraying: To shield metal surfaces from rust formation and corrosive elements, metal factories apply glossy protective coats to assorted finished pieces. For this step in the manufacturing process, pneumatic spray tools allow workers to apply each coat evenly and thoroughly, without the appearance of streaks or oils. Once a metal part has undergone an air-powered coating application, the surface is likelier to withstand years of exposure to water and air moisture.
Finishing: On certain metal parts, finishing touches help achieve the desired texture or surface appearance. Whether this process involves metal sanding tools or the application of buffers or sprays, air-powered factory tools and machinery make metal finishing easy and efficient. We have rotary screw air compressors to thank for some of the most lustrous sheens on today’s metal fixtures and appliances.
Glass, Stone and Clay Manufacturing
Factories that manufacture glass and clay products rely heavily on rotary screw air compressors across all stages of the assembly line, from the preparation of materials in soft and liquefied forms to the molding and drying of the finished shapes.
Conveyors: The mechanisms that drive conveyor belts for glass and clay productions rely on compressed-air machinery. Rotary screw air compressors allow glass factories to produce uniform replicas of bottle and jar designs for a variety of industries. The same is true for the production of clay and stone products such as vases, plates and planting pots.
Blending: Making unique clay and glass products requires air-powered machinery to portion out ingredients properly for the right balance. Colored glass, for example, needs the right mix of liquefied glass and color for the final product to have the desired tone. From green soda bottles to red candle holders, glass-blending is an air-powered industrial process.
Glassblowing and molding: The process for molding glass into shape is similar to the methods for metals and plastics. As such, the assemblies on which glass products get molded into shape require a similar arsenal of air-powered pouring devices and open/close formation cavities. Whether the finished product is a soda bottle, a drinking glass, an eyewear lens or a window pane, specially designed assembly machines carry out the process — and rotary screw air compressors power most of them.
Cooling: For a glass product to fully arrive at its solid, finished state, it must undergo a cooling application to ensure the properties are hardened throughout. When a newly molded bottle or lens first gets released from its formation device, the lingering heat of the earlier liquefaction process still lingers in the innermost molecules of the glass. To ensure the piece does not warp or cave, air-powered cooling devices condition the glass to a solid, room-temperature state.
Food and Beverage Manufacturing
The packaging of foods and bottling of beverages necessitates the use of rotary screw air compressors. At food-manufacturing and packaging plants, air compressors power nearly every application along the conveyor lines. Without the functions air power provides, food manufacturers would not be able to deliver sanitized products in the quantities necessary for current populations.
Dehydration: For various foods on the market, the process of dehydration is necessary to eliminate elements of water that would otherwise lead to the growth of mold and bacteria. Foods intended for lengthier shelf lives, such as dried fruit and sundried tomatoes, exemplify the results of this process. At food factories, rotary screw compressors power the tools that dehydrate food and vegetable products in vast quantities.
Cleaning: Many foods need cleaning before getting packaged or crated and delivered to supermarkets. Raw produce, for example, generally requires spraying to clean it between its initial time at the farm and its destination at the grocery store. At food factories, an assortment of air-powered tools that spray or dry each item to a marketable standard help clean various foods.
Bottling: The bottling of beverages requires an arsenal of devices to prepare, fill, seal and label each bottle in a fast, yet precisely timed, sequence. Each production shift starts with thousands of bottles pre-formed from air-powered glass-liquefying and molding machines. At the beverage factory, the bottles move in single file along air-powered conveyors, where they get filled to exact measurements with pneumatic pouring nozzles, sealed tight with air-powered cap dispensers and branded with air-powered labeling and stamping devices.
Labeling: Air-powered machines programmed to move in specifically timed increments complete the process of labeling food products. For example, overhead devices apply the labels you see on plastic-wrapped mushroom containers. Of course, this process requires a perfect balance of firmness and sensitivity to ensure the labels get fastened to the containers or wrap without damaging the products inside. Air-powered machines and assemblies make it possible to achieve the right timing and application-pressure levels.
Vacuum packing: Certain food products come in airtight plastic packages that get vacuumed and sealed for maximum shelf life. Air-powered vacuum devices package cheese, cookie dough, processed meats and other assorted items you see in the refrigerated aisles to ensure no air gets trapped within the packaging. That makes it possible for perishable products to have expiration dates several weeks away from the time they first hit the shelves.
Manufacturing Process of Compressor Models by Kaishan Compressor
For more than 60 years, Kaishan has been an innovation leader in compressed-air technology. Throughout the global manufacturing sector, our compressors have helped power vast production arsenals at some of the world’s largest factories. Now more than ever, manufacturers are streamlining their processes with improved efficiency, thanks to the capabilities our single- and two-stage rotary air compressors provide.
The Kaishan line of rotary screw air compressors consists of the KRSB, KRSD, KRSP, KRSP2 and KRST models, each of which provides optimal pressurization for a vast range of applications in
the world of manufacturing. At factories and pressing plants large and small, one or more of the following models power mass productions with the utmost speed.
KRSB: Single-Stage Rotary. With belt drives that range from 10 to 50 HP, the KRSB series is optimal for manufacturing applications. If you want a machine that can drive a range of pneumatic tools and machine parts, KRSB belt-driven rotary screw air compressors fulfill all the necessary functions for high-volume productions.
KRSD: Single-Stage Rotary. Offering anywhere from 30 to 200 HP, the KRSD series of air compressors is optimal for some of the world’s larger manufacturing facilities. If you crank out products daily by the thousands, KRSD single-stage direct drive air compressors are effective at powering virtually any pneumatic mechanism along the assembly line.
KRSP: Single-Stage Rotary. With units that offer between 20 and 500 HP, the KRSP series is the perfect option for manufacturers who wish to compete on a global scale. Delivering up to 2,453 CFM, KRSP premium direct-drive air compressors allow glass, metal and plastic makers to streamline processes and yield finished products at high volumes with impeccable speed and perfection.
KRSP2: Two-Stage Rotary. Boasting power ratings in the 100 to 500 HP range, the KRSP2 series of air compressors are top of the line in both capacity and performance. Factories equipped with KRSP2 two-stage air compressors can manufacture mass volumes of glass, plastic and metal parts, as well as finished furnishings, electronics and vehicles.
KRST: Single-Stage Rotary. With machines that range from 7.5 to 20 HP, the KRST series of air compressors is ideal for small and large manufacturing applications alike. Whether you operate a small production facility or oversee a giant factory, KRST tank-mount belt compressors will power air tools and assembly arms with speed and precision.
KRSD: Single-Stage Rotary. Offering anywhere from 30 to 200 HP, the KRSD series of air compressors is optimal for some of the world’s larger manufacturing facilities. If you crank out products daily by the thousands, KRSD single-stage direct drive air compressors are effective at powering virtually any pneumatic mechanism along the assembly line.
KRSP: Single-Stage Rotary. With units that offer between 20 and 500 HP, the KRSP series is the perfect option for manufacturers who wish to compete on a global scale. Delivering up to 2,453 CFM, KRSP premium direct-drive air compressors allow glass, metal and plastic makers to streamline processes and yield finished products at high volumes with impeccable speed and perfection.
KRSP2: Two-Stage Rotary. Boasting power ratings in the 100 to 500 HP range, the KRSP2 series of air compressors are top of the line in both capacity and performance. Factories equipped with KRSP2 two-stage air compressors can manufacture mass volumes of glass, plastic and metal parts, as well as finished furnishings, electronics and vehicles.
KRST: Single-Stage Rotary. With machines that range from 7.5 to 20 HP, the KRST series of air compressors is ideal for small and large manufacturing applications alike. Whether you operate a small production facility or oversee a giant factory, KRST tank-mount belt compressors will power air tools and assembly arms with speed and precision.
Knowing how air compressors are used in manufacturing, you owe it to your brand to harness the power of Kaishan single- and two-stage rotary screw air compressors. Explore our site and contact us today to learn more about how our compressors can transform your manufacturing operations.