Annular Pump Seal Geometry for Pressure-Fluctuation Leakage Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-power pumps, especially those used in harsh environments like hydraulic fracturing, experience significant wear and leakage due to fluctuating pressures and abrasive/corrosive fluids, leading to shortened seal and component lifespans and increased maintenance needs.
Innovation Solution
An annular seal design with a convex groove face and concave sealing face, featuring oblique lateral edges, is used to deform and preload the seal within a groove, enhancing the fluid seal by expanding laterally and reducing wear and leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional seal is used in high-power pumps with fluctuating pressures, then the pump can operate, but the seal deflects or compresses during pressure fluctuations causing rapid degradation and shortened service life
Solution Approach 1:
The seal is preloaded onto a mandrel that imparts an oval cross-sectional shape before installation. This preliminary shaping allows the seal to better conform to the groove geometry and maintain stable positioning during pressure fluctuations, preventing deflection and compression that lead to degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The seal cross-section is changed from a conventional circular shape to an oval shape with specific dimensional relationships (major axis parallel to groove opening, minor axis perpendicular). This parameter change in geometry allows the seal to distribute pressure more evenly and maintain stability during operation.
2Reliability
If a seal is anchored in a groove to prevent movement, then the seal can be retained, but fluid migrates into the groove between the seal and groove during pressure fluctuations causing wear
Solution Approach 1:
The seal is designed with non-uniform cross-sectional geometry (oval shape) where different portions have different dimensions. The major axis dimension provides adequate clearance in one direction while the minor axis dimension ensures close contact in the perpendicular direction, preventing fluid intrusion into the groove while maintaining retention.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the seal cross-section from circular to oval with specific dimensional ratios, the seal creates optimal clearance patterns that prevent fluid from migrating into the groove during pressure fluctuations, thereby eliminating the wear caused by fluid intrusion.
3Ease of manufacture
If the seal cross-section is circular, then the seal is easy to manufacture, but it does not provide optimal sealing performance under high pressure fluctuations
Solution Approach 1:
The seal cross-section is changed from circular to oval with specific dimensional relationships. This parameter change improves sealing performance under pressure fluctuations while maintaining manufacturability through standard molding techniques and simple mandrel-based preloading processes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution significantly reduces damage, deformation, wear, and leakage in high-power pumps, extending seal and component lifespans, and decreasing downtime by providing a more robust and efficient fluid seal.
Implementation Method 1
the seal to deform in the groove of the one of the first component or the second component when the other of the first component or the second component presses against the protrusion
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, assemblies, apparatuses, and methods herein may provide an enhanced fluid seal between two components. A seal may include an annular seal body having a groove face, a sealing face opposite the groove face, a first lateral face, and a second lateral face opposite the first lateral face. The groove face may have an at least partially convex groove edge, and the sealing face may have an at least partially concave sealing edge and a protrusion. The first and second lateral faces may be oblique with respect to one another, and the groove face, the sealing face, the first lateral face, and/or the second lateral face may cause the seal to deform in a groove of a first one of the two components when a second one of the two components presses against the sealing face, thereby to enhance the fluid seal between the two components.