Spring-Energized Seal Assembly With Floating Back-Up Ring
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Solution Overview
Problem
High pressure equipment requires improved seals to handle increasing operating pressures effectively, particularly in applications like ultra-high performance liquid chromatography, where existing seals face challenges with particle creation due to manufacturing tolerances and excessive wear.
Innovation Solution
A seal assembly design incorporating a spring energized seal and a back-up ring that allows radial movement of the back-up ring within the spring energized seal, minimizing contact and wear by optimizing the geometric features such as inner diameters, angles, and gaps to accommodate shaft reciprocation while maintaining sealing integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing seals are used in high pressure equipment, then sealing function is provided, but particle creation occurs due to manufacturing tolerances and excessive wear
Solution Approach 1:
The seal assembly incorporates a spring energized seal that allows dynamic movement and adjustment. The spring mechanism enables the seal to self-adjust to shaft reciprocation and manufacturing tolerances, maintaining consistent sealing contact without excessive friction that would generate particles. This dynamic capability resolves the contradiction by allowing the seal to adapt rather than rigidly maintain contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes geometric parameters including inner diameters, angles, and gaps to minimize contact and wear. By carefully controlling these dimensional parameters, the seal assembly reduces friction and wear between components, thereby minimizing particle creation while maintaining effective sealing under high pressure conditions.
2Reliability
If seal components are designed to maintain contact for sealing, then sealing integrity is maintained, but wear increases due to friction
Solution Approach 1:
The spring energized seal provides dynamic adjustment capability that maintains sealing contact while accommodating shaft movement and reciprocation. This dynamic system reduces static friction and wear by allowing controlled movement, thereby extending component service life while maintaining sealing integrity throughout the component's operational life.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring mechanism acts as a cushioning element that absorbs shocks and reduces impact forces between seal components. This beforehand cushioning protects the seal and shaft from excessive wear during operation, extending the duration of action while maintaining consistent sealing contact.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If manufacturing tolerances are tightened to reduce particle creation, then particle generation decreases, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes geometric parameters including inner diameters, angles, and gaps to minimize contact and wear. By carefully controlling these dimensional parameters, the seal assembly reduces friction and wear between components, thereby minimizing particle creation while maintaining effective sealing under high pressure conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring energized seal allows dynamic movement and adjustment to accommodate manufacturing tolerances. This dynamic capability enables the use of standard manufacturing tolerances while still achieving low particle generation, as the spring mechanism compensates for dimensional variations rather than requiring extremely tight tolerances.
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 design effectively reduces wear and particle creation, ensuring reliable sealing performance under high pressures by allowing the back-up ring and spring energized seal to move relative to each other, maintaining proper contact with the shaft and housing, and withstanding pressures up to 30,000 psi.
Implementation Method 1
spring energized seal
Implementation Method 2
spring energized seal
Implementation Method 3
maintaining proper contact with the shaft
Data Source
AI summary
A seal assembly for high pressure equipment is disclosed and can include a back-up ring having a head and an extension extending from the head. The extension can include an interior surface that extends axially away from and radially inwardly from the head. The seal assembly can also include a spring energized seal having a jacket having a sealing portion with an annular spring disposed within the sealing portion of the jacket. At least a portion of the jacket fits around the extension of the back-up ring and wherein the back-up ring has a minimum inner diameter, IDBUR, the spring energized seal has a minimum inner diameter, IDSES, and IDSES is less than IDBUR.