Reducing flow communication between chambers of guided-vane rotary apparatus

A guided-vane rotary apparatus comprising:

• a housing including a body having two opposite, substantially planar side faces, an opening extending between the side faces;
• a rotor assembly including a body mounted within the opening of the housing body for rotation about an axis and defining a slot extending radially of the rotation axis, and the rotor assembly further includes a disk which is mounted adjacent the at least one side face of the housing body so as to cover the opening of the housing body and wherein the disk includes an inner side face which faces the at least one side face of the housing body, and the at least one side face of the housing body defines a cam groove which encircles the opening in the at least one side face;
• a vane assembly positioned within the slot of the rotor assembly body for movement radially thereof between alternative radial positions;
• means cooperating between the vane assembly and the cam groove for coordinating the radial movement of the vane assembly relative to the rotor assembly body with the rotation of the rotor assembly body about the rotation axis so that the vane assembly is forcibly moved radially inwardly and outwardly with respect to the rotor assembly body by a corresponding amount, and wherein the opening of the housing body has outer walls along which the vane assembly is slidably moved during apparatus operation;
• and
• the vane assembly includes a vane body having a radially outwardly-directed edge and two opposite ends, and there is defined along the radially outwardly-directed edge a groove having a bottom which extends therealong, and wherein the vane assembly further includes a vane tip seal which is disposed within the groove and extends therealong so as to provide a radially outwardmost edge of the vane assembly and means disposed between the bottom of the groove and the vane tip seal for biasing the radially outwardmost edge of the tip seal radially outwardly of the rotor assembly body and into engagement with the walls of the opening of the housing body;
• and
• wherein the vane tip seal has a length which is at least as great as the full width of the opening of the housing body wherein the full width is measured between the two opposite, substantially planar side faces of the housing body.

A guided-vane rotary apparatus comprising:

• a housing including a body having two opposite, substantially planar side faces, an opening extending between the side faces;
• a rotor assembly including a body mounted within the opening of the housing body for rotation about an axis and defining a slot extending radially of the rotation axis, and the rotor assembly further includes a disk which is mounted adjacent the at least one side face of the housing body so as to cover the opening of the housing body and wherein the disk includes an inner side face which faces the at least one side face of the housing body, and the at least one side face of the housing body defines a cam groove which encircles the opening in the at least one side face;
• a vane assembly positioned within the slot of the rotor assembly body for movement radially thereof between alternative radial positions;
• means cooperating between the vane assembly and the cam groove for coordinating the radial movement of the vane assembly relative to the rotor assembly body with the rotation of the rotor assembly body about the rotation axis so that the vane assembly is forcibly moved radially inwardly and outwardly with respect to the rotor assembly body by a corresponding amount, and wherein the opening of the housing body has outer walls along which the vane assembly is slidably moved during apparatus operation;
• and
• wherein the body of the rotor assembly includes two hub sectors having opposing radially-extending surfaces between which is defined the slot within which the vane assembly is positioned, and the vane assembly includes a body having a side face which faces the radially-extending surface of one of the hub sectors and another side face which faces the radially-extending surface of the other of the hub sectors, and each opposing radially-extending surface of the hub sectors defines a seal-accepting groove which extends substantially axially of the rotor assembly;
• and
• two strip seals wherein each strip seal is disposed within a seal-accepting groove of a radially-extending surface of a corresponding hub sector and means disposed between the bottom of the seal-accepting groove of a corresponding hub sector and the strip seal accepted by the corresponding seal-accepting groove for biasing the strip seals into sealing engagement with the side faces of the vane assembly body.