Behavior of Vanes in Through-Vane Compressors

Abstract

Through-vane compressors are used for automotive air conditioners, and they are different from conventional sliding vane compressors in the respect that the vanes run through a rotor and both tips of the vanes are guided by the inner wall of a cylinder. In the through-vane compressor, a friction loss occurs at one tip of the vane contacting the cylinder wall, while a leakage loss occurs at the other tip of the vane. This study investigates the behavior of the vane theoretically by solving balancing equations of force and moment acting on the vane. The theoretical calculation elucidates the magnitude of the contacting force between the vane tip and the cylinder wall and identifies the region of the contact which extends from a suction process to the first half of a compression process of the compressor. Effectiveness of the calculation is confirmed by comparing the theoretical region of the contact with the practical contacting region estimated from flow visualizing experiments.