Performance analysis of a U-Vane compressor

A new rotary compressor, named 'U-Vane compressor' (UVC) has been introduced with the motivation of reducing the size of the cylinder and housing in a swing compressor. The compressor can be used for air and refrigerant compression. In this paper, the dynamics, internal leakages and frictional losses aspects of UVC are modelled. A physical prototype has been fabricated and measurements have been conducted with an open airtest-circuit for verification of the mathematical model. Good agreement is obtained between the predicted and measured power inputs with an average discrepancy of 3.8%. However, the discharge mass flow rate tends to be under-predicted at high operating speeds and low discharge pressures situations. Nevertheless, the mathematical model is capable of predicting the performance of UVC with acceptable accuracy.