Intercooler

An intercooler is installed between two compression stages. It serves the following purposes:

a. It cools the compressed air, thereby allowing it to shed some condensate. Presence of condensate in the following compression stage can be quite detrimental.

b. The temperature of the compressed air is reduced so that it can be safely handled by the second stage compression system.

The figure provided here illustrates a water-cooled intercooler. Notice the flowpath of compressed air through the unit. Also notice that at the end of its journey through the cooler, compressed air is forced to go through a separator. The separator is designed to remove condensate from the compressed air.