Design and application of non-contacting gas lubricated seals for slow speed services

摘要

Full scale development of non-contacting gas lubricated seals began in the mid 1970s. This engineering effort resulted in effective sealing of gas compressors to eliminate unreliable and costly wet compressor seals and associated supportequipment. The concept of non-contacting seal technology was further re-engineered and applied to pumps for emissions control. This has also resulted in a substantial increase in equipment life or Mean Time Between Maintenance (MTBM) on difficultapplications. Slow speed services found on agitators and mixers still presented an engineering problem to be solved. At slow speeds the seal had a greater propensity to contact resulting in wear at the seal faces. To handle low speeds and pressures to 1E6 Pa (150 psig) an optimum set of seal faces was developed. Performance and operating results are presented.