Abstract
Reduction of leakage from the shaft–radial lip seal conjunction is critical in ensuring enduring performance of entire lubrication system. This paper investigates leakage from three types of shaft surfaces, finished using different manufacturing processes. The measurement of surface topography is conducted in order to determine the pertinent roughness parameters which correspond to the observed sealing performance in real practical applications. It is found that the skewness of the surface topography correlates well with the anecdotal leakage failure rate. To quantify this association, a hydrodynamic model, accounting for shaft roughness in a deterministic manner is developed. The results from the numerical analyses confirm that the lubricant mass flow rate is reduced in the case of negatively skewed surface height distributions, when compared with the positively skewed profiles.
Highlights
Radial lip seals are one of the most common solutions in engineering to prevent leakage between parts in relative rotary motion with low pressure differentials
The results from numerical simulations are in agreement with the observed trends in real industrial applications, highlighting the importance shaft roughness in determining the
It is shown that topographic skewness can act as the characteristic scales
Summary
Radial lip seals are one of the most common solutions in engineering to prevent leakage between parts in relative rotary motion with low pressure differentials. A common application of radial lip seals, employed in light passenger vehicles, is to seal the conjunction between the transaxle casing and the drive shafts. The seal’s lip is pressed radially onto the rotating shaft through a combination of lip deformation and the expansion of the garter spring. The angular velocity of the shaft can be as high as 4000 rpm, whilst the pressure differential across the seal is typically in the region of 20 kPa
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