• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.70-80
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• 2012

Non-contact type mechanical face seals installed in mechanical systems prevent leakage of working fluid using thin working fluid film between stator and rotor. For that purpose, various kinds of surface profiles, grooves and conings have been applied on seal surfaces of stator and rotor to generate hydrodynamic and hydrostatic pressure. The thickness distribution of working fluid film is one of important factors which affect the working performances of mechanical face seal, and it is strongly affected by the surface height profiles of stator and rotor. Therefore, appropriate design of surface height profiles of stator and rotor is necessary to optimize the working performances and life of mechanical face seal. In this study, numerical analysis using finite volume method was conducted to estimate the working performances of wavy mechanical face seals which have 36 coning combinations. As results, minimum thickness of working fluid film, leakage volume of working fluid and friction torque in static equilibrium condition of mechanical face seal, and stiffness of working fluid film were obtained. The results show that the working performances of mechanical face seal were affected by the coning combinations which can change the thickness distribution of working fluid film and pressure distribution in sealing region of mechanical face seal.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.230-239
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• 2010

Mechanical face seal installed in boiler feedwater pump prevents leakage of working fluid using thin fluid film between stator and rotor. If the leakage of working fluid exceeds the allowable volume, serious malfunction of boiler feedwater pump will be happen. The thinner fluid film exists between stator and rotor, the less working fluid leaks out. However, if the thickness of fluid film is not enough, the wear of seal face will be increased. And it causes the decrease in life of mechanical face seal. Therefore appropriate design is necessary to maximize the performance and life of mechanical face seal. In this study, numerical analysis using finite volume method was conducted to investigate the static characteristics of wavy mechanical face seals which have 4 different wavy surface profiles on rotor. As a result, opening force, leakage volume of working fluid and friction torque were obtained. For the same minimum film thickness, the static characteristics of mechanical face seal were affected by the wavy surface profile which can change the thickness of working fluid film and pressure distribution.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.966-974
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• 2002

An analytic approach has been employed to study condensate film thickness distribution inside cave-shaped cavity of a flat plate heat pipe. The results indicate that the condensate film thickness largely depends on mass flow rate and local velocity of condensate. The increasing rate of condensate film for circular region reveals about 50% higher value than that of vertical region. The physical properties of working fluid affect significantly the condensate film thickness, such as the condensate film thickness for the case of FC-40 are 5 times larger than that of water. In comparison with condensation on a vertical wall, the average heat transfer coefficient in the cave-shaped cavity presented 10∼15% lower values due to the fact that the average film thickness formed inside the cave-shaped cavity was larger than that of the vertical wall with an equivalent flow length. A correlation formula which is based on the condensate film analysis for the cave-shaped cavity to predict average heat transfer coefficient is presented. Also, the critical minimum fill charge ratio of working fluid based on condensate film analysis has been predicted, and the minimum fill charge ratios for FC-40 and water are about Ψ$\_$crit/=3∼7%, Ψ$\_$crit/=0.5∼1.3% respectively, in the range of heat flux q"=5∼90kW/㎡.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.350-355
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• 2001

Minimum clearance between the piston seal groove of a piston and cylinder bore to ensure against extrusion of the piston seal and leakage of working fluids is an important design parameter for a seal designer in hydraulic cylinder application. Contact force, critical pressure at which extrusion occurs, leakage rate, fluid film thickness and friction force have been analyzed for some design parameter such as clearance between cylinder wall piston, depth of rectangular groove and pressure of sealed hydraulic fluid. In this paper, we analyze displacement and stress of ACGT seal by finite element analysis to understand Contact Behaviour Characters