Temperature Measurements by Infrared Thermography in the Interface of a Radial Face Seal

Abstract

Mechanical seal functioning can be greatly affected by thermal effects and particularly by the coupling of seal face geometry and heat dissipation in the interface. It is necessary to develop new investigation means in order to study accurately such very delicate phenomena. This paper deals with the feasibility of temperature measurements by means of infrared thermography technique. The capabilities of the infrared camera which has been used are examined. A radiation analysis leads to the evaluation of the contributions to the radiant energy received by the camera detector. A first series of results demonstrates clearly the efficiency of the technique. It is shown how the face rotor coning and heat exchanges can be combined in the case of a thermally stable seal operation.

A Mixed Thermoelastohydrodynamic Lubrication Analysis of Mechanical Face Seals by a Multiscale Approach

“…The temperature difference from the inner to the outer radii can be higher than 10 K. These results were confirmed later by Tournerie et al (10) by a thermography technique. These temperature gradients lead to slight rotation of the seal rings which become tapered as measured by Doust and Parmar (11).…”

“…å å = macro c n n c c F W [10] These forces must balance the closing force F cl due to the fluid pressure and the seal spring force Fs:…”

Non-isothermal performance characteristics of fluidfilm mechanical face seals

“…Experimental work published by Will [12] leads to a similar conclusion. More recently, the experimental data published by Tournerie et al [13] have shown that, for a thin-film MFS or for soft face contact, the temperature variation along the radius is quasi-linear. Peaks of temperature are observed near the outer radius when the contact pressure increases in this zone, but such cases do not correspond to the assumptions of the present study (full fluid film).…”

Heat transfer in a mechanical face seal

“…Indeed, the dissipated power due to viscous friction and asperities contacts in the sealing interface leads to a significant increase in tem- perature in the fluid film and in the contiguous solids [2,3]. Consequently, the lubrication conditions are modified because of fluid viscosity variation, thermal distortions of the seal rings and possible phase change.…”

“…The aim of the present work is to analyze numerically and, to a lesser extent, experimentally a mechanical face seal. This experimental seal was essentially designed to validate numerical models of the contact behaviour through infrared temperature measurements [3,4] and is thus quite different from industrial mechanical face seals. More particularly, the seal is inner-pressurized and operates with a highly viscous mineral oil resulting in laminar flow.…”