Experimental study on lubrication characteristics and leakage inhibition of oil-lubricated seal with herringbone grooves

Abstract

Experimental research was conducted on mechanical seals with pressurized lubricated-oil, focusing on lubrication and leakage inhibition of herringbone-grooved face seals. Through the visualization experiments and axial displacement tests, this study evaluated the performance of the inner-diameter-side (IDS) and middle-diameter-side (MDS) herringbone grooved seals based on the measured cavitation region, leakage rate, friction torque, surface temperature of stator, and axial displacement of the primary ring. The experiment results show that, increasing the width of the seal dam can reduce the hydrodynamic effect and cavitation development of the liquid film but enhance the hydrostatic effect, maintain a small leakage range, the maximum leakage rate is less than 19 mL∙min−1. Zero-leakage can be achieved in MDS due to cavitation suction. The axial displacement curves indicate that the runout amplitude of IDS is smaller than that of MDS, the maximum axial displacement difference is about 25 µm, the stability of IDS is better than MDS. Comparisons of surface temperature and friction torque demonstrates that the lubrication of MDS is better than that of IDS.