Theoretical study of a novel refrigeration compressor – Part I: Design of the revolving vane (RV) compressor and its frictional losses

This paper presents a new rotary type compressor, named ‘Revolving Vane (RV) compressor’, in which frictional losses are effectively reduced through the radical use of a rotating cylinder. The friction at various contact regions are formulated and analyzed, after which a parametric study is conducted to reveal configurations of the compressor that achieves high mechanical efficiencies. Inadvertently, the rotating cylinder is also found to enhance the smoothness of the compressor's operation by reducing its torque fluctuations. Besides good mechanical performance, the RV compressor is also found to possess a high volumetric efficiency, as shown in Part III of this paper series (Teh and Ooi, in press). In further consideration of the small number of parts and simple geometries of its components, it is believed that the RV compressor is well suited and can be readily adopted for refrigeration and air-conditioning applications.