Vibration Analysis of an Air Compressor Based on a Hypocycloidal Mechanism: an Experimental Study

In this paper, the experimental vibration analysis of a single cylinder air compressor based on a hypocycloid straight line mechanism (HSM) is investigated. The HSM mechanism uses planetary gears to convert rotational motion to purely linear motion. In the conventional air compressor, the slidercrank mechanism is replaced by the HSM mechanism with appropriate counterweights. The constructed setup is fixed over a base plate supported by an elastic foundation and is driven by a speedcontrolled electric motor. During the experiments, the driving frequency is varied and the vibrations of the base plate due to unbalanced forces are recorded in three directions. The results are compared with the experimental results of a compressor based on the conventional slider-crank mechanism. Time and frequency domain analyses indicated that the mechanism can be balanced effectively, and the shaking force and induced vibrations can be significantly suppressed.