Investigation of oil film on the contact surface of a flooded model helical lip seal

摘要

In this paper, an optical interferometric method was used to measure oil film thickness distribution on the contact area of an elastomeric rubber model lip seal with helical ribs n the air-side and both the air-side and oil-side flooded with oil. Using the model lip seal, an investigation of the process of oil film formation and effect of speed and seal design factors such as rib angle and barrel angle on oil film formation, was carried out. From the observation results, the following findings are obtained. The process of oil film formation on the model helical lip seal contact area can be clearly observed by the interferometric method. The effect of rib angle and barrel angle of a rotary helical lip seal on the oil film thickness distribution is found to be significant. Oil film thickness increases greatly as the rib angle or barrel angle decreases. For a rotary helical lip seal used for bi-directional rotation, ribs designed in reverse direction have little effect on oil leakage.