Numerical and experimental evaluation of performance of centrifugal seals

‘Centrifugal seals’ or ‘Slinger seals’ offer an attractive choice as non-contact-type sealing in fluid machinery. These seals utilize the radial pressure gradient caused by centrifugal forces in a rotating fluid ring, to create a sealing of the working fluid. Basic construction of a typical seal consists of a rotating disc inside a stationary casing; one side of the disc (sealing side) is provided with a set of slots (Type-1) or vanes (Type-2) to enhance the tangential velocity of the fluid. The other side of the disk (back side) in both the configurations is exposed to high pressure liquid being sealed. Both numerical and experimental investigations of the performance of Type-1 seal (with slots) have been carried out so as to optimize the seal configuration to achieve maximum sealing capacity, with minimum power consumption. A comparison of the performance of Type-1 seal has been made with that of conventional one (Type-2) in view of economy of construction and better sealing with minimal expense of power consumption. A test rig that allows for varying the major geometrical and operating parameters was designed and tests were conducted with water as the medium. Influence of major geometric parameters like dimensions and number of slots, axial/radial clearances and major operating parameters like rotational speed, inlet pressure and sealing fluid bypass flow rate has been investigated. Apart from various pressure, temperature, flow and torque measurements, the interface between the sealing and working fluid for the experiments was captured and recorded using a high speed camera at ~26,000 frames per second. Geometrical configuration for the slots that maximizes the sealing capacity is arrived through 3D numerical simulations using commercial CFD solver ANSYS Fluent^®. A good agreement is obtained with respect to experimental results. In view of economy of construction and better sealing with minimal expense of operating power, a modified version of Type-1 seal termed as Type-3 seal is investigated. A simple 1D model for prediction of the interface radius during the seal operation, which could be used as a quick design guide, is also presented.