Dry gas seals are non-contacting, dry-running mechanical face

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

s that consist of a mating (rotating) ring and a primary (stationary) ring. When operating, lifting geometry in the rotating ring generates a fluid-dynamic lifting force causing the stationary ring to separate and create a gap between the two rings. Dry gas seals are mechanical seals but use other chemicals and functions so that they do not contaminate a process. These seals are typically used in a harsh working environment such as oil exploration, extraction and refining, petrochemical industries, gas transmission and chemical processing. Machined-in lift profiles on one side of the seal face direct gas inward toward an extremely flat portion of the face. The gas that is flowing across the face generates a pressure that maintains a minute gap between the faces, optimizing fluid film stiffness and providing the highest possible degree of protection against face contact. The seal's film stiffness compensates for varying operations by adjusting gap and pressure to maintain stability.

Design and use

Grooves or machined ramps on the seal direct gas inward toward the non-grooved portion. The action of the gas flowing across the seal generates pressure that keeps a minute gap, therefore optimizing fluid film stiffness and providing protection against face contact. The use of these seals in

centrifugal compressor Centrifugal compressors, sometimes called impeller compressors or radial compressors, are a sub-class of dynamic axisymmetric work-absorbing turbomachinery. They achieve pressure rise by adding energy to the continuous flow of fluid through th ...

s has increased significantly in the last two decades because they eliminate contamination and do not use

lubricating oil A lubricant (sometimes shortened to lube) is a substance that helps to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, t ...

. Non-contacting dry gas seals are often used on

compressor A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor. Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transp ...

s for

pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

s, off-shore applications,

oil refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

and gas processing plants.

Types

There are many dry gas seal configurations based on their application: * Single seal * Tandem seal - Broadly used in the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...

** Tandem seal with intermediate

labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...

* Double opposed seal - Used when the processed gas is abrasive (like

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...

) and lower pressure designs. All designs use buffering with "dry" gas, supplied through control and purification systems. All Dry Gas Seals need additional protection from the process and the bearing lubrication sides of the seal

History

The first dry gas seal for a compressor was patented by Kaydon Ring & Seal in 1951 when it was known as Koppers Corporation. Field applications of dry gas seal designs were completed in 1952. The original patent was for Kaydon's "Tapered Ramp" lift geometry, a ''constant diameter / variable depth'' dynamic lift design. From that first dry gas seal ever manufactured for a centrifugal compressor in 1951, Kaydon Ring & Seal has been instrumental in developing the dry gas seal into one of the most reliable and maintenance free sealing solution available today.

John Crane Inc. John Crane is an American company, now a subsidiary of Smiths Group and provider of engineered products and services including mechanical seals, couplings, hydro-dynamic bearings, seal support systems, filtration systems and artificial lift. The c ...

issued a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

for dry gas seals in 1968 with field applications beginning in 1975, though the technology is now widely available among seal manufacturers. When the technology is aimed at correcting the problems with dry gas film environments by eliminating

friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of t ...

. Soon, the technology became a common replacement for other lubricated seals. The patented spiral-groove (constant depth / variable diameter) technology of the dry gas seal allows for easy lifting and separation of seal faces during operation. Also the dry gas seal lift geometry can be unidirectional or bidirectional, depending on the specific design of the lifting geometry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dry Gas Seal Seals (mechanical)

Design and use

Types

History

See also

References