Patent ID: 7114932

Claim:
A pivoting vane rotary compressor comprising: a housing having a generally pear-shaped chamber defined by an inner peripheral wall and a pair of opposing side walls on respective sides of said peripheral wall; a rotor mounted within said chamber to define about said rotor a compression chamber, which narrows from a main chamber region to a constricted chamber region, said rotor having a circumferential surface; at least one intake port and at least one exhaust port connected communicably with said chamber proximate respective positions wherein said main chamber region and said constricted chamber region intersect, said ports for respectively introducing gas into said chamber and exhausting gas from said chamber; at least one adjoining pair of curved vanes pivotably attached to said rotor and extending in generally opposite arcuate directions from said rotor into said chamber; and a motor for rotatably driving said rotor such that both of said adjoining vanes are urged simultaneously against the inner wall of the chamber to define at least one compartment that transmits the gas through said chamber between said intake and exhaust ports and through said main chamber region, whereby gas introduced through a selected one of said ports is compressed and discharged through the other port; said circumferential surface of said rotor and said vane having substantially conforming curvatures and said rotor being positioned within said chamber such that each said vane is driven into substantially flush interengagement with said circumferential surface when said vane is driven by said rotor into said constricted chamber region.