Compressor arrangement with bypass means for preventing freezing of the cooling unit

A compressor arrangement comprising:

• a motor-driven compressor unit;
• at least one cooler unit located downstream of the motor-driven compressor unit and being configured to cool compressed air generated by the motor-driven compressor unit, wherein the generated compressed air enters into the at least one cooler unit via at least one inlet, flows through a cooling structure included in the at least one cooler unit and around which cooling air flows, and leaves the at least one cooler unit via at least one outlet, and
• a permanently open bypass pipe provided between a region of the at least one inlet and a region of the at least one outlet, an inner cross section of the bypass pipe being matched to a delivery capacity of the motor-driven compressor unit and to a pressure difference between the at least one inlet and the at least one outlet in such a way that the bypass pipe generates a higher flow resistance than the cooling structure at normal ambient temperatures, whereas, with progressive freezing of the cooling structure, the generated compressed air flows to an increasing extent via the bypass pipe to maintain the compressed air generation with a minimum loss of cooling and delivery capacity,
• a wall of the bypass pipe consisting of at least one dewatering and/or safety valve,
• wherein, the bypass pipe is arranged relative to the at least one cooler such that the bypass pipe is situated in a flow path of the cooling air which flows through the at least one cooler unit,
• wherein the inner cross sectional dimension of the bypass pipe is selected so as to provide automatic regulating action based on dimensioning of the bypass pipe such that, in the event of a freezing of the at least one cooler unit which no longer allows compressed air to pass through, a pressure difference between the two ends of the bypass pipe rises to a maximum of 0.5 bar,
• wherein the bypass pipe does not freeze under conditions that freeze the at least one cooler unit because the bypass pipe is heated by the compressed air itself and by flow friction in the bypass pipe, and
• wherein the motor-driven compressor unit is of multi-stage construction including multiple compressor stages, wherein the compressor arrangement includes a plurality of cooler units of which the at least one cooler unit is one cooler unit of the plurality of cooler units, wherein each cooler unit in the plurality of cooler units is positioned downstream of a corresponding compressor stage of the multiple compressor stages, with each of the plurality of cooler units including at least one bypass pipe configured to operate in the same manner relative to its corresponding compressor stage as the bypass pipe is configured to operate in the at least one cooler unit.