Theoretical study of a novel refrigeration compressor- Part III: Leakage loss of the revolving vane (RV) compressor and a comparison with that of the rolling piston type

A new refrigeration compressor, named ‘Revolving Vane (RV) compressor’, has been introduced in Part I of this paper series. The efficiency of the RV compressor, alike other refrigeration compressors, is primarily affected by mechanical and leakage losses, amongst which the former has been investigated in Part I. In the present paper, the leakage loss in the RV compressor which mainly occurs at the radial clearance between the rotor and the cylinder is analyzed theoretically. In comparison with the rolling piston type, the leakage loss at the radial clearance in the RV compressor is typically found to be 40% lesser than that of the former. Furthermore, the leakage loss can be significantly reduced by selecting a shorter configuration of the compressor, which is anticipated to yield good volumetric efficiencies of more than 95%. For a longer configuration, the leakage loss can be effectively minimized by employing the method of an eccentric cylinder.