Friction Loss and Wear in a Meso Scale Wankel Compressor

In a meso scale Wankel compressor, the surface-to-volume ratio and the contact surfaces with friction are larger compared with conventional scale Wankel compressor. The analysis of friction loss is highly important for the design of a meso scale Wankel compressor. In this paper, we comprehensively analyze seven kinds of friction losses of a meso scale Wankel compressor. The rationality of the friction losses equations is verified by the friction loss and wear experiments that are based on a Wankel compressor prototype (the dimension of prototype is about 40 × 50 × 24 mm). The two greatest contribution of total friction loss are from the friction loss between the seal apex and internal surface of the cylinder and that among the end face of the eccentric shaft, end faces of the rotor, and endplates to total friction loss. The most sensitive parameter is eccentric distance. The relative error between the simulation and experimental results is relatively small when motor speed lies within the common range of the compressor.