Additively Manufactured Sealing Ring With Integral Sealing Tips
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sealing rings for annular gaps between shafts and bearing bodies have complex, production-intensive structures with many individual parts and high intrinsic weight, limiting their functional design and manufacturing efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A sealing ring design featuring two ring-segment-shaped halves with integral sealing tips, utilizing additive manufacturing for a reduced number of parts, optimized sealing air supply, and flexible oil return channels, made from aluminum with stiffening ribs for reduced weight and cost, and incorporating a pressure measuring duct for efficient air regulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of repair
If sealing tips are provided as separate components inserted into annular grooves, then the sealing ring can be assembled with replaceable sealing tips, but the number of individual parts increases and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing tips are formed integrally with the sealing ring halves as a single monolithic component, eliminating the need for separate sealing tip parts and their associated grooves and insertion features. This merging reduces the total number of individual parts while maintaining the sealing function.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple drilled channels are created for purge air and oil return, then functional design is improved, but manufacturing time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The purge air channels and oil return channels are formed during the additive manufacturing process itself, before final assembly. This preliminary formation of channels eliminates the need for subsequent drilling operations, reducing manufacturing time while maintaining complex functional design.
3Strength
If sealing ring halves are made from forged steel blanks, then strength and durability are ensured, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The material is changed from forged steel to aluminum alloy, fundamentally changing the density parameter. This material substitution reduces weight while the additive manufacturing process and integrated stiffening ribs compensate for any strength reductions, maintaining structural integrity.
4Productivity
If additive manufacturing is used for sealing ring halves, then manufacturing cost and time are reduced, but material selection becomes more limited
Solution Approach 1:
Aluminum alloy powder is used as the starting material for additive manufacturing, combining the benefits of lightweight material with the manufacturing efficiency of additive processes. The aluminum alloy provides sufficient strength while enabling cost-effective production through additive manufacturing.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~6
AI summary
The invention relates to a sealing ring (1) for sealing an annular gap between a shaft and a bearing body surrounding said shaft, comprising two sealing ring halves (2, 3) having ring segment shapes and a plurality of circumferentially formed sealing tips (5), arranged axially adjacent on the inner peripheral surface and protruding radially inward, characterized in that the sealing tips (5) are integrally formed together with the sealing ring halves (2, 3). The invention further relates to a method for producing such a sealing ring (1).