A Near-Frictionless Sealing Approach with Innovative, Gas-Lubricated Shaft Seals Made of Elastomer

Abstract

Due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations, leakage-free shaft seals with minimal friction are growing ever more important. The trend toward higher operating speed (e.g., in the field of e-mobility) additionally aggravates the sealing task. Reliable, leakage-free shaft seals—such as gas-lubricated mechanical seals—are difficult to manufacture and thus expensive. Therefore, there is still significant interest in an efficient and easy-to-manufacture shaft seal design. This study discusses the development of sleeve-type lip seals made of fluoroelastomer with an innovative, sickle-shaped back-structure design. The novel lip seals are capable of operating at near-zero friction. Compared to state-of-the-art, gas-lubricated mechanical seals, near-frictionless sliding on an air film is achieved with a simple, robust, and easy-to-manufacture sealing-lip design.

Keywords:

• shaft seals
• friction
• elastohydrodynamic lubrication
• sealing-aid design