Equations explaining pressure drop across an air filter

[donajaykrishna]

Hi all,
I'm having a Kaiser compressor producing compressed air for my garage. I've installed a FRL unit at point of use. I understand that the filter medium adsorbs atmospheric dust, moisture and oil particles in compressed air. Gradually the pressure drop across the filter builds up and I need to replace the filter element.

Are there any equations which help me build a model for an ideal case, so that I can analyze the conditions that lead to failure of the element? My point of use equipment is really sensitive to moisture and begins rusting easily. If I develop an ideal model, and predict when my filter would fail, I can prevent my end use equipment breakdown!

Thanks!

 

[Rx7man]

I think it's going to be hard to make any sort of accurate model and have it turn out in the real world.. My best suggestion would be to put a pressure drop monitor on it to indicate when it's getting clogged.

I once worked in a urethane shop (urethane is very moisture sensitive), and they had all sorts of problems with humidity in the lines. I had a DeVilbiss permeable membrane air drier we installed and it completely got rid of the moisture.. It does leak a certain amount of air continually, which may make it unsuitable for some applications.. I tried to find pictures of it but wasn't able to (This was 15years ago)...
The first stage was a water separator to get rid of liquid water drops
Second stage was a coalescer, which removes oil
Third stage was the membrane, which I suspect was something along the lines of "Gore Tex", allowing water vapor to pass through it, but not air