• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1217-1225
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• 2001

The governing equations are derived for the analysis of a stepped labyrinth gas seal generally used in high performance compressors, gas turbines, and steam turbines. The bulk-flow is assumed for a single cavity control volume set up in a stepped labyrinth cavity and the flow is assumed to be completely turbulent in the circumferential direction. The Moodys wall-friction-factor model is used for the calculation of wall shear stresses in the single cavity control volume. For the reaction force developed by the stepped labyrinth gas seal, linearized zeroth-order and first-order perturbation equations are developed for small motion about a centered position. Integration of the resultant first-order pressure distribution along and around the seal defines the rotordynamic coefficients of the stepped labyrinth gas seal. The resulting leakage and rotordynamic characteristics of the stepped labyrinth gas seal are presented and compared with Scharrers theoretical analysis using Blasius wall-friction-factor model. The present analysis shows a good qualitative agreement of leakage characteristics with Scharrers analysis, but underpredicts by about 20%. For the rotordynamic coefficients, the present analysis generally yields smaller predictied values compared with Scharrers analysis.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.140-146
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• 2008

The floating ring seal which is used in the high pressure turbo pump is frequently used in the oxidizer pump and the fuel pump of the turbo pump of the liquid propulsion rocket, because it is able to minimize clearance to decrease the leakage flow rate. But, the floating ring seal has a tendency to increase instability in decreasing eccentricity ratio. To complement this weakness, it is devised bump floating ring seal which is inserted bump in the outer surface. It has various experiment results. But the theoretical study of the bump floating ring seal didn't investigated yet. In this paper, we analyse about static characteristics of bump floating ring seal, compared previous experimental results. To analyze the characteristic of bump floating ring seal, we coupled perturbation method of floating ring seal and FEM of bump foil.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2021

This study describes the effects of a thrust labyrinth seal applied to the backside of a centrifugal impeller on the axial thrust force for high speed turbomachinery. The bulk flow model using Neumann's equation calculates the seal cavity pressures and leakage flow rate of the thrust labyrinth seal based on three configurations: teeth-on-rotor (TOR), teeth-on-stator (TOS), and interlocking labyrinth seal (ILS). Prediction results show that the ILS is superior to the TOR and TOS in terms of leakage flow rate. A mathematical model of a centrifugal impeller with a thrust labyrinth seal on its backside calculates the force components corresponding to the impeller inlet, shroud, impeller backside outer, backside seal, and backside inner pressures. A summation of the force components renders the total axial thrust force acting on the centrifugal impeller. The Newton-Raphson numerical scheme iteratively calculates the pressures and leakage flow rate through the impeller wall gap. The prediction results reveal that the leakage flow rate and total axial thrust force increase with rotor speed, and the ILS significantly decreases the leakage flow rate, whereas it slightly increases the axial thrust force when compared to TOR and TOS. Increasing the seal clearance causes an increase in the leakage flow rate and a slight decrease in the axial thrust force with the ILS.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.56-62
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• 1997

Sealing an oil-air mixture plays important roles to have an enhanced lubrication for high speed spindle. High speed spindles require non-contact type sealing mechanism. In this study, an optimum seal design to minimize leakage is concerned in the aspect of flow control. This paper categorizes geometries of mostly used non-contact type seals and analyzes each leakage characteristics to minimize a leakage on sealing area. Effect of minimum clearance and its position are considered according to variation of detail geometry. The estimation of non-leaking property is determined by amount of pressure drop in the leakage path assuming constant leakage flow. To simulate an oil jet or oil mist type high speed spindle lubrication, the working fluid is regarded as two phases that are mixed flow of oil phase and air phase. Both of the turbulence and the compressible flow model were introduced in CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics) analysis. Design parameters has been induced to minimize leakage in limited space, and a methodological study on geometrical optimization has been conducted.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.256-262
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• 2017

Molten zinc plating is a process in which zinc is thinly coated over a metallic or non-metallic surface. It is used in various industrial fields for corrosion resistance and decoration. During the process, a steel sheet is passed through a roll that rotates inside the molten zinc liquid in the temperature range of $460^{\circ}C$ to $680^{\circ}C$, and the plating liquid flows into the roll causing abrasion and erosion of the roll surface. This problem is known to accelerate the replacement cycle of the roll and cause considerable economic loss owing to production line stoppage. Here, we propose a mechanism that operates at high temperature and pressure with a labyrinth type seal design to resolve this problem. We theoretically investigate the flow of the plating solution inside the seal and compute the minimum rotation speed required to prevent the plating solution from entering the seal chamber. In addition, we calculate the thermal deformation of the seal during operation and display thermally deformed dimensions at high temperatures. To verify the theoretical results, we perform experiments using pilot test equipment working in the actual plating environment. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical results. We expect our results to contribute towards the extension of the roll's life span and thereby reduce the economic losses.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.224-231
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• 2021

Recently, the waterproofing performance of high-voltage connectors in automotive vehicles has attracted increased interest. In this study, an optimal cross-sectional shape was derived to obtain uniform contact pressure and strain by considering stress relaxation problems caused by initial tension when mounting a seal. A high strain of 52.1 was distributed in the round region, owing to excessive initial tension. The finite element method (FEM) analysis indicated that the strain corresponding to the optimal initial tensile was 11. We adopted six design factors to optimize the seal cross-section and three factors as the main design factors. An orthogonal arrangement table was prepared using Minitab. FEM analyses of 16 study models were conducted to determine the optimized model. The contact pressure of the optimization model is the most evenly distributed while satisfying the waterproof performance of 0.47 MPa. Compared to the initial model, the difference in strain decreases from 35.5% to 19.6%. Finally, the derived cross-sectional shape can reduce the strain of the round region by 33.8% and the differences in the contact pressure at the upper and lower surfaces by 42% and 76%, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1576-1580
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• 2007

Typical lip seals are widely used as sealing mechanism of rotary and reciprocating shaft. Double lip seal has comparatively high stiffness and dynamic radial eccentricity. Usually material of these seals is made of elastomer and nonlinear finite element analysis is required to analyze behaviour of this material because Young's modulus is varied with working load. In this paper, MSC MARC/MENTAT is used for nonlinear analysis of double lip seal with pressure variation and interference. The contact normal force of double lip seal between lip and shaft is analyzed to reduce power loss when shaft rotates.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.4 no.3 s.12
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• pp.29-38
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• 2001

The floating ring seal has the ability of minimizing clearance without the rubbing phenomenon. It is often used in the turbo pump units of liquid rocket engines due to its superior leakage performance. The exact prediction of the lock-up position of the floating ring, the leakage performance, and the rotordynamic coefficients of the seal is necessary to evaluate the rotordynamic performance of the turbo pump unit. The governing equations(which are based on the Bulk-flow Model) we solved by the Fast Fourier Transform method. The lock-up position, leakage flow rate, and rotordynamic coefficients are evaluated according to the geometric parameters of the floating ring seal.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2003

A turbo pump unit provides high pressure oxygen and fuel in a space shuttle main engine (SSME). This paper focused on rotordynamics, investigating its characteristics based on a numerical simulation of turbo pump finite element model. Speeds up to 50,000 rpm are considered, as well as the special problems related to elastic-ring, seal hydrodynamic force, shroud force and clearance-excitation farce. The rotordynamic prediction shows that the elastic-ring which is inserted between the casing and the outer race of ball bearing allows far an acceptable separate margin of first critical speed. Additionally, the results show that the floating ring seal, which have a peculiar ring, adds substantial stiffness and damping to the system as well as exhibits superior performance in terms of rotordynamic stability of system compared to the plain seal.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.13-20
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• 2007

Elastomeric O-ring seals are widely used in static and dynamic applications. A compressed and highly pressurized O-ring seal inserted under laterally one-sided constrained condition has been analyzed experimentally and numerically. The deformed shape and extrusion length of the O-ring under high pressure has been measured by the computed tomography. Through the comparison of experimental and FE results, the numerical analysis technique has been verified. Using verified FE method, the contact stress profiles at sealing surfaces have been investigated and their relevance to the 0-ring performance evaluated based on stress-related and displacement-related parameters. It has been found that the contact stress profiles and deformation behaviors of the seal are affected by friction coefficient, gap clearance, and pressure considerably.