AEMA2131 – Industrial Maintenance

Assignment 2

Winter 2022

Instructor: Dr Aiyad Gannan

Due Date: 14/04/2022

Student Names M. Usman Hussain

Student ID 60098397

Mechanical Seal:
 Can you write a brief description of the mechanical seals and their applications as well as
the failure cause of the mechanical seal?

About Mechanical Seals:

A mechanical seal is simply a method of containing fluid within a vessel (typically
pumps, mixers, etc.) where a rotating shaft passes through a stationary housing or
occasionally, where the housing rotates around the shaft.
A basic mechanical seal contains three sealing points.
The stationary part of the seal is fitted to the pump housing with a static seal –this
may be sealed with an O-Ring or gasket clamped between the stationary part and
the pump housing.
The rotary portion of the seal is sealed onto the shaft usually with an O ring. This
sealing point can also be regarded as static as this part of the seal rotates with the
shaft. The mechanical seal itself is the interface between the static and rotary
portions of the seal.
One part of the seal, either to static or rotary portion, is always resiliently mounted
and spring loaded to accommodate any small shaft deflections, shaft movement due
to bearing tolerances and out-of-perpendicular alignment due to manufacturing
tolerances.
While two of the sealing points in a seal design are simple static seals, the seal
between the rotating and stationary members needs a little more consideration. This
primary seal is the basis of all seal design and is essential to its effectiveness.
The primary seal is essentially a spring-loaded vertical bearing - consisting of two
extremely flat faces, one fixed, one rotating, running against each other.  The seal
faces are pushed together using a combination of hydraulic force from the sealed
fluid and spring force from the seal design. In this way a seal is formed to prevent
process leaking between the rotating (shaft) and stationary areas of the pump.
If the seal faces rotated against each other without some form of lubrication, they
would wear and quickly fail due to face friction and heat generation. For this reason,
some form of lubrication is required between the rotary and stationary seal face; this
is known as the fluid film
In most mechanical seals the faces are kept lubricated by maintaining a thin film of
fluid between the seal faces.  This film can either come from the process fluid being
pumped or from an external source.
The need for a fluid film between the faces presents a design challenge – allowing
sufficient lubricant to flow between the seal faces without the seal leaking an
unacceptable amount of process fluid or allowing contaminants in between the
faces that could damage the seal itself.  This is achieved by maintaining a precise
gap between the faces that is large enough to allow in a small amounts of clean
lubricating liquid but small enough to prevent contaminants from entering the gap
between the seal faces.

We use mechanical seals to stop any visible leakage. A mechanical seal will leak
vapor as the fluid film on the faces reaches the atmospheric side of the seal faces,
but any visible leakage will be nonexistent. Modern cartridge seal designs are
essential in today’s industry because they do not damage the pump shaft, and
maintenance is reduced as seals have inboard springs or a metal bellows. These
energizers make the seal self-adjusting as the faces wear. Seals will have lightly
loaded faces which will consume less power than any form of compression packing.
Bearing contamination is reduced as the lubricant does not become affected by seal
leakage and wash out. Corrosion of plant equipment is also at a minimum if the
product is contained within a pump. Overall, a mechanical seal is the best way to
go. They will provide prevent wasted product resulting in reduced costs.

Today, you can expect even water to be a commodity that comes with a price, so it
is essential that you choose what’s best for your application long-term. 

The Applications of Seals:

Seals have a wide spectrum of applications; therefore, their usage is not limited to
one type of equipment. These applications range from automobiles, ships, rockets
and industrial pumps, compressors, to residential pools and dishwashers, and many
more.

Seals come in various forms which include single springs pump seals, compressor
seals, multi-spring seal designs, metal bellows seals, mixer and agitator seals, and
single and double cartridge seals. Considering that there is more than one type of
seal, it’s important to be able to identify the temperature range, application, and
environment the seal will have to endure to choose the correct seal that is right for
your application. No one seal will work in all applications. The correct seal for the
job will prevent environmental contamination, and result in cost savings, through
improved machine operating efficiency, longer life, and machine safety.