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Influence of the installation environment on the operating behavior of mechanical seals
Summary
According to conventional meaning, the operating behavior of mechanical seals is influenced by the pressure to be sealed, the sliding speed and the temperature of the fluid to be sealed. The sliding friction is characterized by the physical properties of the fluid to be sealed, the viscosity and thus the lubrication and local temperature rise within the sealing gap.
For example, component seals, such as those typically used in the automotive industry or in simple pumps for industrial applications, the responsibility for the geometry of the total installation environment - the seal’s cavity - and the flow quantity lie with the Tier-1-supplier of automotive cooling water pumps or electric drives or with the machine manufacturer and can therefore usually not be influenced by the seal manufacturers. However, the mechanical seal’s cavity is responsible for the flow condition and thus for the heat dissipation of the mechanical seal.
Flow forms in the vicinity of the mechanical seals can be laminar or turbulent. Turbulence sustainably increases heat transfer and tends to lead to lower component surface and thus sealing gap temperatures, but generate considerable fluid friction within the liquid, especially with higher viscosity fluids. The heat transfer, together with the temperature of the fluid to be sealed, results in the surface temperature of the sealing rings.
The fluid-side component surface temperature, together with the geometry and the physical property of the heat conduction, influences the temperature distribution in the sealing rings, the thermal deformation of the sealing rings, the resulting sealing gap shape (A or V gap), and the sealing gap temperature itself. However, the temperature distribution in the sealing rings not only generates the thermal deformation of the sealing gap that occurs during operation, but also the pressure distribution and pressure drop of the gap and the resulting friction performance.