Patent ID: 8591208

Claim:
A method of reducing pulsations associated with a compressor system having one or more compressor cylinders, each cylinder having at least one valve cap, comprising: determining the resonant frequency of internal cylinder pulsations; determining the resonant frequency of cylinder nozzle pulsations; installing a pulsation absorber in place of or on a cylinder valve cap; wherein the pulsation absorber has at least the following elements: a housing having a bottom plate for installation in place of the valve cap or over a modified valve cap and a closed top end, the bottom plate having two or more openings; one or more partitions within the housing, operable to divide the internal volume of the housing into two or more chambers; a choke tube associated with each chamber, each choke tube having a first end open to a corresponding one of the openings in the bottom plate of the housing, and having a second end open to its associated chamber; wherein the top end is dead-ended and all other surfaces of the housing are closed such that fluid enters and exits each chamber through that chamber's associated choke tube; wherein each chamber has a single choke tube whose second end is open to that chamber; wherein each opening and its corresponding choke tube is in fluid communication with gases expelled from or inducted into the cylinder; and wherein the absorber has the following dimensions optimized to reduce the peak pulsation amplitude of the resonant frequency of at least the internal cylinder pulsations and of the cylinder nozzle pulsations: surge volume of each chamber, length of each choke tube, and diameter of each choke tube such that each chamber and its associated choke tube has a different response to pulsations in the compressor system.