Compressed-air calculator
Metered recovery — receiver and demand cycles
After a demand event, the system must recover its pressure before the next one — otherwise it falls behind cycle after cycle.
This calculator validates a receiver volume against your measured demand cycles: event duration, drawn flow, time available for recovery.
Metered recovery
Receiver sizing and recovery validation across demand cycles.
How to use it
- Enter the supply flow (what the compressor delivers continuously) and the event flow (the short demand spike).
- Give the start and minimum allowable pressures and the event duration: the tool returns the required receiver and the recovery time.
- Fill in “Time between events” to validate recovery — if it is shorter than the recovery time, the receiver cannot recharge in time (shown in red).
- Scenario 2 lets you adjust receiver, supply and pressures with sliders to test variations.
Scenario 1 — required
Result
- Net demand
- —SCFM
- ft³ · L
- —ft³ · —L
- Recovery time
- —s · —min
Required receiver—gal
Scenario 2 — adjustable
Result
- Net demand
- —SCFM
- Recovery time
- —s
Pressure cycle
Tip: enter “Time between events” to see whether recovery fits within the available time.
Volume = (Q_net · t · P_atm) / (60 · ΔP). Scenario 2 validates both volume AND recovery time.
Indicative estimates — validate all results before any technical decision.