🔍 Key Concepts

• Intercooler and aftercooler functions in multi-stage air compressors • Relationship between air temperature, pressure, and density (when you cool compressed air, what happens?) • How efficiency and power required change when compression is done in multiple cooled stages

💭 Think About

• Think about what happens to air when it is compressed: what happens to its temperature and how that affects the work needed for the next stage of compression? • If you cool the air between stages and again after final compression, how does that impact the energy required by the compressor and the condition of the delivered air? • Which choice best matches the primary design purpose of coolers on a compressor, rather than a side effect or unrelated process?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify which option directly relates to reducing the work of compression and improving overall performance of the machine. • Check whether any option describes something that would actually be undesirable in a compressed air system, such as intentionally lowering charge density or adding water vapor. • Confirm that the purpose of both an intercooler (between stages) and an aftercooler (after final stage) is consistent with the same main goal, not a very localized effect like only protecting first-stage valves.