Currently, compressed air energy storage (CAES) is a topic of general interest in the field of large-scale power storage technology research and development, because it has a broad application prospect in both grid-connection of new energy power generation and peak-load regulation of power grid. The research and development of air compressor is reviewed in this paper. Due to the fact that it is difficult for adiabatic process based equipment to improve working efficiency, screw air compressor has been proposed to reduce gas temperature by compression of mixed oil and gas, further lowering down the energy consumption. For the different evolution periods of CAES, including traditional gas-heating compression, non-gas-heating adiabatic compression and isothermal compression, different principles and variable efficiency are analyzed and compared. Realization methods and the latest development of isothermal CAES are introduced in detail. Finally, combined with the current situation, the future development direction of CAES technology is prospected.

isothermal compression  /  air compressor  /  compressed air energy storage  /  large-scale power energy storage