max pressure seal design
max pressure seal design
(OP)
How do you determine the max pressure a mechanical seal is designed for? I have looked on other seal company websites and next to their seal it states the max operating conditions the seal can handle. Below is a hypothetical example of what you might see on the website of a seal company.
Ex. Seal xyz is a cartridge single seal
operating limits:
pressure 0-350PSI
temp -40-450F
shaft speed 3600rpm
shaft size 1-5.5inch
Thanks.
Ex. Seal xyz is a cartridge single seal
operating limits:
pressure 0-350PSI
temp -40-450F
shaft speed 3600rpm
shaft size 1-5.5inch
Thanks.





RE: max pressure seal design
What are you trying to do? Where are you in the food chain? End user, EPC, equipment vendor trying to incorporate a seal, seal vendor?
To answer the question, I look at a pump curve, get the operating conditions, and send the info to the seal vendor for a quote.
RE: max pressure seal design
Recent graduate of Mechanical Engineering from a 4 yr university. Only engineer at the seal firm I work at.
I would think the numbers supplied in the attachment must be an estimate based on water because different fluids being pumped have different specs. But would like to know how they calculated it. I looked over many of case studies and have yet to find this information(equations). We don't have any FEA software and the CAD is from 1996 or before being run by a non engineer (self taught person). I would like to not worry at night when seals are sold that I worked on.
Thanks
RE: max pressure seal design
RE: max pressure seal design
A little more about my background.
*As I stated earlier I recently graduate of Mechanical Engineering from a 4 yr university with a 3.5
*before college:
***14 years rotating equipment specialist for the oil and gas industry as a machinist/millwright
------equipment worked on:
=========pumps
=========turbines
=========compressors
=========blowers
=========gearboxes
=========etc.
***4 years USAF
Reason for the degree I was working 16 hour 7 days a week on a compressor crew and wanted to see more of my son and wife.
RE: max pressure seal design
RE: max pressure seal design
RE: max pressure seal design
RE: max pressure seal design
Edit to add- Most seal failures in centrifugal pumps do not happen due to overpressure, most failures are caused by heat in my experience.
RE: max pressure seal design
Thanks
RE: max pressure seal design
RE: max pressure seal design
Thanks
RE: max pressure seal design
The seal manufacturer will tell you the max operating pressure for their seals. Call them up if you can't find it on their website. I wouldn't recommend you try and calculate it yourself. Lets assume that you can master the theory first time, with no one with experience to help you. Without knowing the material properties, you will only be able to come up with an approximate guess. This guess will be less good than what the manufacturer can tell you.
RE: max pressure seal design
What I am trying to do is answer the questions posed to me from the sales team that is being asked by the end users engineers. The questions are as follows:
What is the max pressure your seal design can be operated at?
What are the max operating conditions of the seal I am looking to purchase?
Our sales people look to other seal manufacturers websites and give them that information. This in my opinion is a bad practice and not a safe way of conducting business. It also means we don't find the safety of our customers matters or their equipment. (This is my opinion)
RE: max pressure seal design
In parallel I would build an FE model, i googled this look alright (www.atlantis-press.com/php/download_paper.php?id=1...) then use you test results to verify your model
good luck
RE: max pressure seal design
You don't have test results from the companies previous life? You have machining specs / dwgs... you must have more than 'nothing', no?
I would think a good '2D' code that was coupled with test results would yield good results or is the seal industry in fact very FEA driven?
RE: max pressure seal design
Also when I say FEA I wasn't suggesting going to spend £10k on an expensive 3D FEA software (ANSYS ABAQUS etc). FEA is a mathematical method that can be applied to 1D, 2D and 3D problems, and there are some good cheap/free ones out there. You'll notice the example I sent through only has a 2D model.