Field Knowledge, Plant Operation

Shaft Seals
Tight, tighter, seal-tight

Everywhere shafts penetrate casings, leaks occur.

Therefore, special shaft seals are used which more or
less prevent liquid or gaseous substances from
escaping pumps or vessels with agitators.

Stuffing Boxes and Controlled Leakage Shaft Seals

There are various types of
shaft seals:

stuffing boxes

controlled leakage shaft
seals

double-action controlled
leakage shaft seals
For safety and environ-
mental protection reasons,
today mostly controlled
Which shaft seals are
leakage shaft seals are used used in our company and
because of the higher-qual- for which purpose?
ity sealing effect and a
longer service life.

Model section of a centrifugal pump with a simple controlled leakage shaft seal (Illustration: Courtesy KSB)

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 Field Knowledge, Plant Operation

Stuffing Boxes
When minor leakage is
acceptable
Stuffing boxes are used for
sealing shafts of pumps and
agitators , but also for valve
assemblies. They are ade-
quately suited for rotating
and backward-and-forward
movement. However, since
continuous minor leakage
occurs when using stuffing
boxes the liquid transported
or agitated must not pre-
sent any hazard.
Stuffing boxes have a sim-
ple design and are easy to
assemble and maintain. In
addition, they are compara-
tively insensitive and cheap.
These advantages are offset
by an incomplete seal.
With shafts turning slowly or
moving slowly backward
and forward a good seal is
formed. With shafts rotating
quickly the stuffing boxes
may only reduce the leak-
age.
Design
The box is the cylindrical
section around the shaft.
The stuffing box is a
recessed area specially
designed to allow packing
to be mounted around the
shaft. The spectacle (pack-
ing gland) is a device used
to compress and secure the
packing material into the
stuffing box. The stuffing
box bolts are designed to
be evenly tightened by qual-
ified personnel to stop
leaks.
Hemp in Oil
The stuffing box packings shaft
may consist of different
materials: hemp, PTFE stuffing box
(Teflon), or graphite. In order bolt
to improve the chemical
resistance, seal, and sliding spectacles
characteristics packings are
frequently soaked with e.g.
grease or oil or stabilized sleeve
with glass fibers.
packing
Maintenance is advised
With time the packing casing
becomes deformed and
yields to the pressure
against it. Therefore the
stuffing boxes must be
maintained or tightened on Stuffing box
a regular basis. In case of
leaks the packing is retight-
ened or completely
replaced by qualified per-
sonnel.
Lubrication Required
If stuffing boxes become dry
and consequently overheat,
the packing is destroyed.
Normally, the transported
liquid serves as lubricant.
Various stuffing box packings (Photo: Courtesy Burgmann)

A Steady Drop....

For the stuffing box to perform satisfactorily and to pre-

clude overheating a continuous controlled leak is
How do you make or
required. With thick shafts there is more leakage, with force the packing in a stuff-
thin shafts, less. Fast turning shafts leak more than ing box to retighten itself?
slowly turning units. The leakage of thick shafts may
amount to approx. 0.5 liters of liquid per day.
Which packing material is
used in our pumps and
valve assemblies?

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 Field Knowledge, Plant Operation
Controlled Leakage Shaft Seals
When a tight seal is
needed
Since stuffing boxes do not
always adequately seal, a
better solution had to be
found for shaft seals. This
solution is controlled leak-
age shaft seals. They are
used exclusively for rotating
shafts.
Design
Controlled leakage shaft
seals consist of two rings,
which are ground level:

The counter-ring or seat
and

the slip ring.
The counter-ring is station-
ary and connected rigidly to
the casing; the slip ring
moves with the shaft. A
spring presses the slip ring
against the counterring.
There is a gap between the
slip surfaces which is filled
with liquid providing lubrica-
tion. Above the gap
between the slip surfaces
small quantities of the
transported liquid may
escape to the environment.
A co-rotating wedge ring or
an O-ring on the shaft and
at the casing produce an
auxiliary sealing effect.
Both rings consist of low-
wear materials. The seat is
manufactured e.g. of
ceramic material, the slip
ring of carbon.
Well Lubricated...
Controlled leakage shaft
seals must be lubricated by
way of a liquid. The liquid
absorbs the heat of friction
heat produced at the slide
surfaces and guarantees
non-contact sliding; in addi-
tion, abrasion is reduced.
The transporting medium is
used as a lubricant in con-
trolled leakage shaft seals
with a simple function. In
controlled leakage shaft
seals with a double action
the sealing medium has this
function.
Quenched Controlled shaft
leakage shaft seals
A special ”rinsing” medium
is used in processes where
heat must be removed or
where deposits on the seal spring
must be removed. This
rinsing medium is called the secondary sealing ring
quenching medium. As of slip ring
opposed to the sealing
liquid in double-action con- slip ring
trolled leakage shaft seals,
the quenching medium is counterring
only slightly pressurized
secondary sealing ring
(less than 1 bar) or not of counterring
pressurized at all. In any
case, the pressure is lower
than that of the transported
medium. Schematic illustration of a simple controlled leakage shaft
seal
The quenching is located
between the controlled
leakage shaft seal and a stationary rotating
second seal preventing slip ring slip ring
leakage into the environ-
ment. The second seal may
be e.g. a second slip ring.
Tandem Design
If the quenching medium is
located between two con-
trolled leakage shaft seals
this is called tandem
design.
Simple controlled leakage shaft seal
(Photo: Courtesy Burgmann)
environment side
product side
sealing medium side
slip ring counterring secondary sealing ring
Tandem design, controlled leakage shaft seal with quench-
ing medium (Illustration: Courtesy Burgmann)
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 Field Knowledge, Plant Operation
Double-action Controlled Leakage Shaft Seal
Double-action lasts
longer
Occasionally, the sealing
property of a simple con-
trolled leakage shaft seal is
inadequate, e.g. in case of
highly flammable solvents.
Here a double-action con-
trolled leakage shaft seal is
used. During normal opera-
tion, none of the trans-
ported medium escapes to
the environment.
Double-action controlled
leakage shaft seals are
applied:

if no transported medium
should escape;

for gaseous media or for
liquids which easily evapo-
rate;

for aggressive media,
which may be under high
pressure and high temper-
ature;

for media, which may
polymerize, is an adhesive
or has a tendency to leave
deposits.
BASF Aktiengesellschaft
GPB/E Personnel Develop-
ment and Training
67056 Ludwigshafen
© BASF/December 2004
Design
A double-action controlled
leakage shaft seal consists
of two simple slip ring seals,
frequently in a back-to-back
configuration. The two slip
ring seals are arranged
homologously and are posi-
tioned back to back. In the
annulus between the seals
is a sealing liquid which is
pressurized. Normally, the
pressure is 1 to 2 bar above
the pressure of the trans-
ported medium. Thus no
medium can escape into the
annulus. And if so, it is
absorbed by the sealant.
On the other hand, sealing Double-action controlled leakage shaft seal - back-to-back
liquid enters the product configuration (Photo: Courtesy Burgmann)
and must therefore be com-
patible.
Circulating Pump or
Thermosiphon?
The sealing liquid is circu-
environment side
lated from the sealing liquid
product side
vessel by way of a pump
and simultaneously cooled.
It is, however, also possible sealing medium
to make use of the natural side
circulation of liquids heating
up: a warm liquid rises, cold
liquids sink. This thermo-
siphon cycle may be sup-
ported by a conveying
screw in the annulus of the slip ring counterring secondary sealing ring
controlled leakage shaft
seal.
Double-action controlled leakage shaft seal - back-to-back
configuration (Illustration: Courtesy Burgmann)
Never forget!

Always adhere to the
operating instructions.

The sealing liquid level
in the vessel must al-
ways be between maxi-
mum and minimum.

The pressure
(e.g. of N2) must be
adequate: 1 to 2 bar
In which direction is the
exceeding the product sealing provided for a
pressure. double-action controlled

The temperature of the leakage shaft seal?
sealing medium must
not exceed 60 °C,
What should be done if
otherwise the secondary the safety provided by a
seals are jeopardized. double-action controlled
leakage shaft seal is inade-
quate?