Experimental study of fixed-vane revolving vane compressor

A new compressor mechanism, called fixed-vane revolving vane compressor, has been designed, fabricated, instrumented and tested. The compressor design eliminates the pressure differential dependency of the vane side friction. A compressor prototype has been tested using air as the working fluid and operated at 2350-3800 rev/min with pressure ratios of up to 2.4, starts from the discharge pressure of 1.5 bar with an increment of 0.3 bar, while keeping the suction pressure constant at the atmospheric pressure. Over the range of the pressure ratios tested, the discrepancy between the predicted and the measured mechanical power is well below 10.0%. The measured air flow rate is found to be greater than the prediction when the discharge pressure is lower than 1.8 bar and the reverse is true for higher discharge pressures.