自20世纪40年代以来，气体压缩机（空气和其他可压缩流体）偶尔被用于航空航天应用中的各种实用功能。它们被用于为喷枪清洗和驱动系统、发动机或APU起动器（充电蓄能器）、储液罐增压、驾驶舱增压、制动系统、伞盖密封、发动机控制分区、起落架激活和增强飞行控制提供动力（见表1）。在目前最先进的飞机上，大多数气动系统的动力都是从涡轮喷气发动机的压缩阶段提取的。随着新一代发动机对燃油经济性和性能的要求越来越高，对新的气动动力源的需求也越来越大。本文件旨在描述压缩机的最新技术，定义其局限性，讨论所需的增强功能，并试图预测未来的需求。

Gas compressors (air and other compressible fluids) have been used sporadically since the 1940's for various utility functions in aerospace applications. They have been used to provide power to gun purge and drive systems, engine or APU starters (recharge accumulators), reservoir pressurization, cockpit pressurization, braking systems, canopy seals, engine control divides, landing gear activation, and boosted flight controls (see Table 1). In current state-of-the-art aircraft, most pneumatic system power is extracted from a stage of compression in the turbo-jet engine. As more and more demands are put on new generation engines for fuel economy and performance there is an increasing need for a new source of pneumatic power. This document is intended to describe current state-of-the-art technology in compressors, define the limitations, discuss enhancements needed and attempt to predict the needs of the future.