Tutorials > Reciprocating Compressors API 618, Valves & Pulsation

Reciprocating Compressors API 618, Valves & Pulsation

Date: 10 September 2026 | Posted by: voska89

Reciprocating Compressors API 618, Valves & Pulsation
Published 9/2026
MP4 | Video: h264, 1920x1080 | Audio: AAC, 44.1 KHz, 2 Ch
Language: English | Duration: 4h 27m | Size: 4.18 GB
Read a PV card, size for rod load and specify pulsation control — valves, packing, capacity control and API 618

What you'll learn

Read a PV indicator card to diagnose valve leakage, excess clearance and lost capacity
Calculate gas and combined rod load, and verify rod reversal occurs in every cycle
Determine the operating envelope the machine may run within, and recognise when conditions exceed it
Select interstage pressures and understand the discharge temperature limit that drives staging
Compare capacity control methods on efficiency, turndown and the loading they impose on the machine
Specify pulsation suppression devices and interpret the results of an API 618 design study
Design piping and supports for reciprocating service to avoid resonance and small-bore fatigue
Select compressor valves and diagnose the failure mode from the appearance of the failed valve
Assess piston ring, rider band and cylinder wear against the limits that trigger overhaul
Build a condition monitoring approach using PV card, rod drop and temperature rather than vibration alone

Requirements

No prior reciprocating compressor experience is required — the cycle and terminology are built from first principles
Any engineering, maintenance or technical background is enough to follow the course
Comfortable with basic algebra — rod load and capacity calculations are worked step by step
No software or licence needed
Helpful but not essential: familiarity with rotating equipment or process plant

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
A reciprocating compressor has hundreds of moving parts and one that fails more than all the others combined. The valve.
Valve failure is the leading cause of unplanned shutdown on these machines, and most of it is predictable from the indicator diagram if anyone is reading it.
In this course you will learn how to read one, and how to specify a machine that does not need it read so often.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN TO DO
By the end of this course you will be able to
● Read a PV indicator card and diagnose valve leakage, clearance and capacity loss from it
● Calculate gas rod load and combined rod load, and check rod reversal
● Determine the operating envelope within which the machine may run
● Size interstage pressures and understand what drives the staging decision
● Select capacity control — clearance pockets, unloaders, speed or recycle — on efficiency and machine loading
● Specify pulsation suppression and know when an API 618 design approach study is required
● Select compressor valves and diagnose failure from the appearance of the failed part
● Build a condition monitoring approach for a machine where vibration analysis alone is inadequate
HOW THE COURSE IS TAUGHT
● The compression cycle and PV card worked from first principles so the diagnosis makes sense
● Rod load calculated by hand, because it governs what the machine may do
● No software needed — the methods transfer to any analysis package
● Five section quizzes and a final exam
● Every presentation is included as a downloadable PDF, so you keep the slides as a desk reference after the course
● Built around the failures that actually stop these machines: valves, packing and pulsation
WHAT IS COVERED
● Where reciprocating machines beat centrifugal, and the flow and pressure ratio envelope
● The compression cycle, the indicator diagram and volumetric efficiency
● Frame arrangements, cylinder configuration and multi-stage layout
● Gas rod load, combined rod load and rod reversal — the constraint that governs operation
● Capacity control by clearance pocket, unloader, speed and recycle
● Pulsation generation, acoustic resonance and the consequences for piping and vessels
● Volume bottles, orifices and acoustic filters, and the API 618 allowable levels
● Design approach levels one, two and three, and when a full study is required
● Piping design and support for reciprocating service
● Compressor valves — types, dynamics, failure modes and diagnosis
● Piston rings, rider bands, cylinder wear and the overhaul trigger
● Rod packing, distance pieces and the leakage containment arrangement
● Lubrication, including non-lubricated cylinders and their constraints
● API 618 requirements, testing, and condition monitoring for reciprocating machines
WHO THIS IS FOR
● Rotating equipment engineers responsible for reciprocating compressors
● Machinery and maintenance engineers dealing with valve and packing failures
● Piping and stress engineers designing for pulsating service
● Process engineers whose operating conditions determine rod load
● Project engineers specifying reciprocating machines and reviewing pulsation studies
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
I am a Chartered Engineer (CEng MIMechE) with over fifteen years in oil and gas, energy and industrial infrastructure, across a range of projects and disciplines.
For more than five years I have also been teaching. Close to twenty thousand engineers have taken my courses, which hold an average rating of 4.26 across the catalogue.
I build these courses because I am genuinely interested in how engineering works and why it fails, and because most technical subjects are taught far worse than they need to be. My aim every time is to produce the course I would have wanted when I first met the subject — practical, honest about what actually matters, and free of the padding that wastes your time.

Requirements

No prior reciprocating compressor experience is required — the cycle and terminology are built from first principles. Any engineering or technical background is enough to follow it.
START NOW
Enrol today and work through it at your own pace, with every presentation available as a downloadable PDF, lifetime access and every future update included.

Who this course is for

Rotating equipment engineers responsible for reciprocating compressor specification and reliability
Machinery and maintenance engineers dealing with repeat valve, packing and ring failures
Piping and stress engineers designing systems for pulsating service
Process engineers whose operating conditions determine rod load and staging
Project engineers specifying reciprocating machines and reviewing vendor pulsation studies
Graduate engineers entering rotating equipment or machinery reliability roles

Homepage

https://www.udemy.com/course/reciprocating-compressors-api-618-valves-pulsation/

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