An air receiver is essential to every compressed air system to act as a buffer and a storage medium between the compressor and the consumption system. There are in principal two different air receivers in a compressed air system:

 PRIMARY receiver - located near the compressor, after the after-cooler but before filtration and drying equipment.
 SECONDARY receivers - located close to points of larger intermittent air consumptions.

The maximum capacity of the compressor in a well designed systems always exceed the maximum mean air consumption of the system (maximum mean air consumption is the mean air consumption over some reasonable time). 
Since the maximum capacity of an air compressor also always exceed the minimum air consumption in the system - the compressor must modulate its capacity during normal work, often by using primitive strategies as on/off modulating or more advanced strategies as frequency drives and inverters. Primitive modulating strategies cause more pressure variations in compressed air systems than more advanced strategies.

An air receiver is essential to every compressed air system to act as a buffer and a storage medium between the compressor and the consumption system. There are in principal two different air receivers in a compressed air system:

 PRIMARY receiver - located near the compressor, after the after-cooler but before filtration and drying equipment.
 SECONDARY receivers - located close to points of larger intermittent air consumptions.

The maximum capacity of the compressor in a well designed systems always exceed the maximum mean air consumption of the system (maximum mean air consumption is the mean air consumption over some reasonable time). 
Since the maximum capacity of an air compressor also always exceed the minimum air consumption in the system - the compressor must modulate its capacity during normal work, often by using primitive strategies as on/off modulating or more advanced strategies as frequency drives and inverters. Primitive modulating strategies cause more pressure variations in compressed air systems than more advanced strategies.