• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.49-56
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• 1998

The thermal deformation of the contact seal components has been analyzed using the finite element method. The temperature distributions, the thermal deformations and contact stresses are solved numerically for the contact surface with wear coning effects. The thermal deformation is always shown to distort the sealing surface along the radius of the seal ring. The results show that the deformations of inner radius side are significant compared with those of outer radius. Thus, the thermal deformation due to thermal heatings may promote the coned face wear or wear related thermal cracks at the contacting face of the seal ring component.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.149-158
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• 1998

The thermal deformation of the contact seal components has been analyzed using the finite element method. The temperature distributions, the thermal deformations and contact stresses are solved numerically for the contact surface with wear coning effects. The thermal deformation is always shown to distort the sealing surface along the radius of the seal ring. The results show that the deformations of inner radius side are significant compared with those of outer radius. Thus, the thermal deformation due to thermal heatings may promote the coned face wear or wear related thermal cracks at the contacting face of the seal ring component.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.240-248
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• 2011

Mechanical face seal installed in primary heat transport pump used for heavy water reactor prevents leakage of working fluid using thin working fluid film between primary seal ring and mating ring. If the leakage of working fluid exceeds the allowable volume, serious accident can be happened by the trouble of primary heat transport pump. The thinner fluid film exists between primary seal ring and mating ring, the less working fluid leaks out. On the other hand, if the thickness of fluid film is not enough, the life of mechanical face seal will be reduced by friction and wear. Therefore appropriate design is necessary to maximize the performance and life of mechanical face seal. In this study, numerical analysis using finite volume method was conducted to investigate the performance of mechanical face seals which have same deep straight groove and 11 different net coning values. As results, equilibrium clearance between primary seal ring and mating ring, leakage volume of working fluid, friction torque on sealing surface and stiffness of working fluid film were obtained. With increasing net coning value, equilibrium clearance and leakage volume increase, and friction torque and stiffness of fluid film decrease.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 1999.06a
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• pp.197-202
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• 1999

A mechanical face seal is a tribe-element intended to control the leakage of working fluid at the interface of a rotating shaft and its housing. The leakage of working fluid decreases as the seal surfaces get closer each other. But a very small seal clearance results in a drastic reduction of seal life because of high wear and heat generation. Therefore, in the design of mechanical face seals the compromise between low leakage and acceptable life is important and presents a difficult design problem. And the gap geometry of seal clearance affects seal performance very much and becomes an important design variable. In this study the Reynolds equation for the sealing dam of mechanical face seals is numerically analyzed using the Galerkin Finite Element Method, which can be readily applied to various seal geometries. The film pressures of the sealing dam are analyzed, including the effects of the seal face coning and tilt. Then, opening forces, restoring moments, leakages, and dynamic coefficients are calculated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.916-922
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• 2001

A mechanical face seal is a tribo-element intended to control leakage of working fluid at the interface between a rotating shaft and its housing. Leakage of working fluid decreases drastically as the clearance of the mating seal faces gets smaller. But the very small seal clearance results in an increased reduction of seal life because of high wear and heat generation. Therefore, in the design of mechanical face seals a compromise between low leakage and acceptable seal life is important, and it presents a difficult and practical design problem. A fluid film or sealing dam geometry of the seal clearance affects seal lubrication performance very much, and thereby it is one of the main design considerations. In this study the Reynolds equation for the sealing dam of mechanical face seals is numerically analyzed, using the Galerkin finite element method, which is readily applied to various seal geometries. Film pressures of the sealing dam are analyzed, including the effects of the seal face coning and tilt. Then, lubrication performances of the seals, such as opening forces, restoring moments, leakage, and dynamic coefficients, are calculated, and they are compared to the results obtained by the narrow seal approximation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.2989-2994
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• 2000

A mechanical face seal is a tribo-element intended to control leakage of working fluid at the interface of a rotating shaft and its housing. Leakage of working fluid decreases drastically as the clearance between mating seal faces gets smaller. But the very small clearance may result in an increased reduction of seal life because of high wear and heat generation. Therefore, in the design of mechanical face seals a compromise between low leakage and acceptable seal life is important, ant it present a difficult and practical design problem. A fluid film or sealing dam geometry of the seal clearance affects seal lubrication performance very much, and thereby is optimization is one of the main design consideration. in this study the Reynolds equation for the sealing dam of mechanical face seals is numerically analyzed, using the Galerkin finite element method, which is readily applied to various seal geometries, to give lubrication performances, such as opening force, restoring moment, leakage, and axial and angular stiffness coefficients. Then, to improve the seal performance an optimization is performed, considering various design variables simultaneously. For the tested case the optimization ha successfully resulted in the optimal design values of outer and inner seal radii, coning, seal clearance, and balance radius while satisfying all the operation subjected constraints and design variable side-constraints, and improvements of axial and angular stiffness coefficients by 16.8% and 2.4% respectively and reduction of leakage by 38.4% have been achieved.