A reciprocating compressor is to be designed to compress 4.5 kg/min of air from 100 kPa and 270C through an overall pressure ratio of 9. The law of compression is PV1.3 constant.
Calculate the savings in power consumption and gain in isothermal efficiency, when a two-stage compressor with complete inter cooling is used in place of a single stage compressor. Assume equal pressure ratio in both the stages of the two stage compressor.
(Gas Constant = 0.287 kJ/kg-K).