This paper presents results of a frictional analysis on a new rotating sleeve multi-vane rotary (RSMVR) compressor. The new five-vane rotary compressor is adapted from the existing concept of a rotating sleeve single-vane rotary (RSSVR) compressor, in which the extended rounded end of one vane is embedded into the inner surface of the sleeve which allows the vane to swing within a certain small angle. As the rotor rotates, this vane drives the sleeve which in turn pushes and pulls the vane into and out of the slot in the rotor, respectively. The other four vanes are similarly pushed into the respective slots in the rotor but slide out only when a sufficient centrifugal force is developed. The driving vane ensures that suction, compression and discharge of the gas occur at all speeds of rotation. Although the sleeve rotates along, due to eccentricity between the rotor and the sleeve, each tip of the four vanes still rubs against the inner surface of the sleeve. The focus of the present study limits its analysis on to only frictions between the vane tip and the inner surface of the sleeve and between the vane sides and the respective slot walls. The frictional analysis is carried out by first determining the instantaneous pressure inside the compression cell and all the associated forces that exist. This involves an analysis on the dynamics of each vane when it reciprocates and at the same time rotates eccentrically with the sleeve. The kinematics of the vane are modelled using cosine and sine rules taking the cell leading vane as a reference to the angle of rotation. In the operation the model estimates a dramatic reduction in friction which is up to 82% lower than that occurs in an existing design of an equivalent conventional multi-vane rotary compressor (MVR). A friction between the rotating sleeve and the two opposite end plates exists in the RSMVR compressor but does not in that of the MVR. This will be included in a later study but on a new integrated brushless DC motor RSMVR compressor concept and on that of the existing shaft driven MVR, to see the overall difference in the frictions exerted.
