Non-contacting, gap-type seal having a ring with a patterned microdam seal face
First Claim
1. In a gap-type, grooved face seal having a stationary sealing ring and a relatively rotating sealing ring with opposed radially extending faces, one of said rings being sealingly affixed to a housing and the other sealingly affixed to a shaft, the improvement comprising, in at least one of said rings, a seal face including:
- a grooved portion having discontinuous grooved surfaces extending inwardly from one circumference of the face of at least one said ring, said grooved surfaces extending across the face of said ring in a discontinuous pattern and being defined by microdams extending between said grooved surfaces, said microdams being offset from the grooved surfaces and having a width at the outermost contacting surface which is significantly smaller than the width of the recesses formed by the grooved surfaces, said microdams being disposed along the boundary of each said grooved surface, whereby said discontinuous grooved surfaces essentially comprise a plurality of grooved polygonal surfaces disposed on the ring face adjacent each other with a microdam being disposed between each said grooved polygonal surface and any adjacent said grooved polygonal surface; and
an ungrooved portion extending inwardly from the other circumference of the face of at least one said ring.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A seal face of a ring used in a non-contacting, gap-type seal having an annular groove area with microdams, each having a preferable width of about 0.025 inches, between a plurality of groove surface areas. The microdams provide a boundary to the groove surface areas whereby the recess of each groove surface area bounded by the microdams acts as a unitary pressure zone and the pressure in the separate zones decreases in a series of steps as measured from one circumference of the ring to the other circumference.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. In a gap-type, grooved face seal having a stationary sealing ring and a relatively rotating sealing ring with opposed radially extending faces, one of said rings being sealingly affixed to a housing and the other sealingly affixed to a shaft, the improvement comprising, in at least one of said rings, a seal face including:
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a grooved portion having discontinuous grooved surfaces extending inwardly from one circumference of the face of at least one said ring, said grooved surfaces extending across the face of said ring in a discontinuous pattern and being defined by microdams extending between said grooved surfaces, said microdams being offset from the grooved surfaces and having a width at the outermost contacting surface which is significantly smaller than the width of the recesses formed by the grooved surfaces, said microdams being disposed along the boundary of each said grooved surface, whereby said discontinuous grooved surfaces essentially comprise a plurality of grooved polygonal surfaces disposed on the ring face adjacent each other with a microdam being disposed between each said grooved polygonal surface and any adjacent said grooved polygonal surface; and an ungrooved portion extending inwardly from the other circumference of the face of at least one said ring. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A groove ring seal face for a mechanical end face seal, the seal for sealing a housing and a relatively rotating shaft, the seal face comprising:
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an annular ungrooved dam portion extending inwardly from one circumference of the face of the ring; and a grooved portion extending inwardly from the other circumference across the face of the ring, the grooved portion including grooves being forwardly and rearwardly inclined relative to the rotation of the shaft, the grooved portion including a plurality of lands between said grooves, said forwardly inclined grooves intersecting said rearwardly inclined grooves and defining first discrete areas of said grooved portion which are common to both type of grooves and second discrete areas associated with only one of said grooves, and further including microdams disposed between and separating said first discrete areas and said second discrete areas, said microdams being offset from the grooved surfaces and having a width at the outermost contacting surface which is significantly smaller than the width of the recesses formed by the grooved surfaces. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. In a groove seal having a stationary sealing ring and a primary sealing ring with opposed radially extending faces, one of said rings being sealingly affixed to a housing and the other affixed to a shaft, the improvement comprising:
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a grooved portion having intersecting forwardly and rearwardly directed grooves, the surface areas of the intersection between said forwardly and rearwardly directed spiral grooves comprising a plurality of polygonal grooved surfaces, each polygonal grooved surface being circumscribed by a plurality of microdams, said microdams being offset from the grooved surfaces and having a width at the outermost contacting surface which is significantly smaller than the width of the recesses formed by the grooved surfaces, the microdams separating said groove intersecting areas from groove non-intersecting areas along common borderlines, said groove non-intersecting areas defining lands having plural groove non-intersecting areas adjacent all sides of said lands; an ungrooved dam portion extending inwardly from the other circumference of the face of the ring. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A groove arrangement for the face of one ring in a mechanical face seal, comprising:
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an annular ungrooved dam portion extending inwardly from one circumference of the face of the ring; and a microdam portion including a series of discrete intersecting forwardly and rearwardly inclined microdams extending inwardly from the other circumference of the face the ring, each said microdam having a surface in substantially the same plane as the other microdams, said microdams defining axially depressed polygonal surfaces in at least one plane different from the plane of the microdam surfaces. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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34. In a gap-type, grooved face seal having a stationary sealing ring and a relatively rotating sealing ring with opposed radially extending faces, one of said rings being sealingly affixed to a housing and the other sealingly affixed to a shaft, the improvement comprising, in at least one of said rings, a seal face including:
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a grooved portion including grooved surfaces extending inwardly from one circumference of the face of at least one of said rings, said grooved surfaces extending across the face of said ring in a pattern being defined by lands extending between said grooved surfaces, said lands being offset from the grooved surfaces and being disposed across the face of said grooved portion, said lands further comprising entrance lands defined by having one edge of each said entrance land coinciding with the circumferential edge of said one circumference of the seal ring face, a radially extending edge of each said entrance land is forwardly inclined and another radially extending edge is rearwardly inclined relative to the direction of rotation of the seal ring, such that said forwardly and rearwardly inclined edges each define an intersecting angle with the circumferential edge of said seal ring relative to a tangent, each said intersecting angle being of from about 10 degrees to about 30 degrees, whereby said intersecting angle of each forwardly inclined radially extending edge of each said entrance land provides an entrance effect to said seal ring face upon rotation of the shaft in either direction; and an ungrooved portion extending inwardly from the other circumference of the face of said ring. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A seal face pattern for a ring in a mechanical end face seal, the seal for sealing a housing and a relatively rotating shaft, the seal comprising:
a generally planar surface extending inwardly from the inner circumference to the outer circumference of said ring, the surface including shallow grooves being forwardly and rearwardly inclined relative to the direction of rotation of the shaft, each said forwardly and rearwardly inclined groove being separated from the adjacent respective forwardly and rearwardly inclined grooves by microdams disposed along the periphery of said grooves, said microdams being in the generally planar surface defining said ring face, said microdams being offset from the grooved surfaces and having a width at the outermost contacting surface which is significantly smaller than the width of the recesses formed by the grooved surfaces, said forwardly inclined grooves intersecting said rearwardly inclined grooves, each said intersection defining a first discrete area substantially in the shape of a diamond being surrounded by said microdams. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42)
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43. In a gap-type, grooved face seal having a stationary sealing ring and a relatively rotating sealing ring with opposed radially extending faces, one of said rings being sealingly affixed to a housing and the other sealingly affixed to a shaft, the improvement comprising, in at least one of said rings, a seal face including a grooved portion having discontinuous grooved surfaces extending inwardly from one circumference of the face of at least one said ring said grooved surfaces extending across the face of at least one said ring in a discontinuous pattern and being defined by microdams extending between said grooved surfaces, said microdams being offset from the grooved surfaces and having a width at the outermost contacting surface which is significantly smaller than the width of the recesses formed by the grooved surfaces, said microdams being disposed along the boundary of each said grooved surface, whereby said discontinuous grooved surfaces essentially comprise a plurality of grooved polygonal surfaces disposed on the ring face adjacent each other with a microdam being disposed between each said grooved polygonal surface and any adjacent said grooved polygonal surface.
Specification