Online Pipe Velocity Calculator for Compressed Air

Our online Pipe Velocity Calculator for Compressed Air can help you to find out the compressed air flow rate quickly and easily.

Online Compressed Air Velocity Calculator

It is important to make sure that air is running through your systems at the proper velocity for the size of the pipes, to make sure that your system is running most efficiently. One of the most overlooked areas in pipe layout and design is the velocity of the compressed air. Read our blog post about properly sizing a compressed air system to learn more. High velocity can be a significant cause of backpressure, erratic control signals, and turbulence. Velocity that is too low can cause moisture to accumulate in the pipes and controls.

To calculate the pipe velocity, you will need to know a few pieces of information about your system. First, the pipe size in inches lets you know how much room there is for the air to flow through. Next, you will need to know the operating pressure in PSIG, that your system is currently operating at. PSIG is the pounds per square in gauge or a measure of pressure—but only a measurement of gauge pressure. You will also need to know the atmospheric pressure and the CFM passing through the pipe.

It’s not always easy to know how much air (measured in CFM) you are producing and how much you actually need. But getting a better handle on your true CFM supply and demand can help you optimize your system for better energy efficiency and performance.

How Pipe Velocity Is Calculated?

There are several ways to calculate the CFM produced by an air compressor. The most common is the pump-up test. To perform this test, you need a receiver tank of a known volume. By timing how long it takes for the air compressor to pressurize the tank, you can determine the actual (as opposed to rated) CFM of the air compressor. The calculation is:

CFM = tank volume (in cubic feet) x Time (sec) / 60 * (Ending pressure - Starting Pressure) / 14.5

Our Online Air Compressor CFM Calculator makes it easy to perform these calculations.

Once you have this information you can use the following formula to calculate the velocity for your compressed air system.

The Velocity is then measured with the following equation:
V = 4005 x √ΔP
V = Flow Velocity in CFM
√ = Square root of the number to the right
ΔP = The Velocity Pressure measured by the pressure sensor

A much faster & easier way is to use our Velocity Calculator below. This will automatically do these calculations for you and send you the result.

Contact us today and let our air experts answer your questions on airflow.

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Feet Per Second Calculator

This formulas is used to calculate feet per second of compressed air through a certain size of pipe (Properly size system should not exceed 20 FPS)