Rotary compressor with vanes in the housing and suction through the rotor

A vane type rotary compressor comprising:

• a cylindrical housing having front and rear side plates for closing longitudinal ends of said housing;
• a rotor rotatably disposed in said cylindrical housing for constituting a cylinder chamber between said cylindrical housing and said rotor, said rotor having at least one longer-diameter portion with the same curvature as that of an inner surface of said cylindrical housing which constitutes, in cooperation with the inner peripheral surface of said cylindrical housing, a sealing portion between said cylindrical housing and said rotor, said rotor extending between said side plates and making gas tight sliding contact with said side plates when it is rotated;
• a suction chamber defined in said rotor for sucking a fluid to be compressed from the outside of said housing, said suction chamber extending in the inside of said rotor from the one side plate to the other side plate of said housing such that an inner surface of said rotor is directly in contact with said side plates for providing a gas tight seal and lubrication therebetween by the fluid sucked into the suction chamber;
• a plurality of vanes disposed in said housing and with their inner ends engaging the outer peripheral surface of said rotor with sliding contact, so as to divide said cylinder chamber into at least two working chambers, the number of said vanes being one more than the number of said longer-diameter portions of said rotor;
• at least one suction port formed through the wall of said rotor for communicating between said suction chamber and one of said working chambers, said suction port being located such that, when the volume of one of said working chambers has been expanded to the maximum for compression of the sucked fluid as a result of the rotation of said rotor by power applied from outside, said suction port is positioned immediately beyond that vane that defines the leading edge of the respective working chamber and said suction port is immediately behind the respective longer-diameter portion of the rotor;
• and
• delivery ports located in said housing to deliver fluid compressed in said working chambers to the outside of said housing, the number of said delivery ports being as many as that of the working chambers.