Design of an Intelligent Self-Adjusting Lip Seal Based on an SMA Spring

摘要

The working temperatures of mechanical equipment are continually increasing, leading to rapid deterioration in the service performance of lip seals. Conventional rubber lip seals cannot achieve a balanced sealing performance at both the designed temperature and high working temperature. Intelligent self-adjusting lip seals that can adjust their sealing performance according to the ambient temperature may be an effective solution. In our study, the influence of the radial force of lip seals on sealing performance was investigated combining a theoretical analysis with experimental verification. An intelligent control method for lip seals based on radial force compensation was proposed. An intelligent self-adjusting lip seal equipped with a shape memory alloy structure was designed and fabricated, and its effectiveness in improving sealing performance at high temperature was validated.