term mainly used by companies selling small compressors because it makes their compressors look bigger than they really are. The swept volume is the actual displacement of the piston, forgetting such losses as bumping clearances, valve clearances, ring losses and the like. It's not unusual to see an advertisement offering a compressor with (say) a delivery of 30 cfm, swept. In reality the compressor will only deliver about 20 scfm..