Mechanical seal with sensor

• Main Authors: SAVIO, Joseph L, HURTIG, Oliver Daniel, GOLDSWAIN, Ian Martyn
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 13.05.2021
• Subjects: BLASTING; CYLINDERS; ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVEFUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; HEATING; INDICATING PRESENCE, ABSENCE, OR DIRECTION, OF MOVEMENT; LIGHTING; MEASURING; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS; MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEARDIMENSIONS; MEASURING LINEAR OR ANGULAR SPEED, ACCELERATION, DECELERATION,OR SHOCK; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; PHYSICS; PISTONS; SEALINGS; TESTING; TESTING STATIC OR DYNAMIC BALANCE OF MACHINES ORSTRUCTURES; TESTING STRUCTURES OR APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL; WEAPONS

A system and method for monitoring a dry gas seal positionable between a stationary housing (18) and a rotatable shaft (29). A plurality of sense elements (44) may rotate in response to the rotation of the rotatable shaft (20) and a speed sensor (17) may sense the speed of the rotatable shaft at speeds below one thousand rotations per minute based on sensing the plurality of sense elements (44). An acoustic emissions sensor (19) may sense when a first seal face and a second seal face forming a seal interface of the dry gas seal are in an operational condition relative to one another. A processor (11) may receive output signals from the speed sensor (17) and the acoustic emissions sensor (19), and may establish an operating condition of the dry gas seal based on the signal from the speed sensor when the first seal face and the second seal face reach the operational condition relative to one another.