Sealing arrangement with automatic clearance adjustment

摘要

The seal assembly consists of a number of seal segments (1) held in a ring round a rotary component such as a shaft (2) by a spring (3). The seal faces (18) of the segments are hollow and are connected by holes (22) to the high-pressure side of the seal. The assembly is designed so that the pressure reaching the seal segments through the holes balances the force applied by the spring and reduces the friction between the segments and rotary component to a minimum. The segment chambers (20) can also contain thrust shoes (21) to reduce the contact pressure between segments and shaft.