Search results

The purpose of this study is to investigate the heat transfer characteristics in a spiral groove mechanical seal lubricated by magnetic fluid.

The viscosity relationship of magnetic fluid in external electromagnetic field was deduced. The temperature distribution of sealing ring was calculated by the method of separation variables.

It has been found that the rotating ring absorbs most friction heat. The temperatures on the end faces of rotating ring and stationary ring decrease from inner radius to outer radius, the temperature of magnetic fluid film decreases from rotating ring to stationary ring and the highest temperature of the sealing system is at the junction of the inner radius and the end face of rotating ring.

Selecting the sealing rings with higher thermal conductivity and reducing the volume fraction of solid particles in magnetic fluid can reduce the temperature of sealing system effectively.

This paper aims to figure out the steady flow status in the molten salt pump under various temperatures and blade number conditions, and give good insight on the structure and temperature-dependent efficiencies of all pump cases. Finally, the main objective of present work is to get best working condition and blade numbers for optimized hydraulic performance.

The steady flow in the molten salt pump was studied numerically based on the three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes equations and the standard k-ε turbulence model. Under different temperature conditions, the internal flow fields in the pumps with different blade number were systematically simulated. Besides, a quantitative backflow analysis method was proposed for further investigation.

With the molten salt fluid temperature, sharply increasing from 160°C to 480°C, the static pressure decreases gently in all pump cases, and seven-blades pump has the least backflow under low flow rate condition. The efficiencies of all pump cases increase slowly at low temperature (about 160 to 320°C), but there is almost no variation at high temperature, and obviously seven-blades pump has the best efficiency and head in all pump cases over the wide range of temperatures. The seven-blades pump has the best performance in all selected pump cases.

The steady flow in molten salt pumps was systematically studied under various temperature and blade number conditions for the first time. A quantitative backflow analysis method was proposed first for further investigation on the local flow status in the molten salt pump. A definition about the low velocity region in molten salt pumps was built up to account for whether the studied pump gains most energy. This method can help us to know how to improve the efficiencies of molten salt pumps.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the hydrodynamic lubrication characteristics of ferrofluid film for spiral groove mechanical seal in external electromagnetic field and to analyze the effects of the volume fraction of ferrofluid, parameters of the electromagnetic field, operating parameters and geometrical parameters of mechanical seal on the characteristics of ferrofluid film.

The relationship between the ferrofluid viscosity and the intensity of external electromagnetic field was established. Based on the Muijderman narrow groove theory, the pressure distribution was calculated with the trial method by trapezoid formula.

It was found that pressure, average viscosity, average density and opening force of ferrofluid between end faces increase with the increase in intensity of current, volume fraction of ferrofluid, rotating speed, pressure differential and spiral angle; decrease with the increase in temperature; and increase at first and then decrease with the increase in the ratio of groove width to weir and the groove length. All of them reach the maximum value when the ratio of width of groove to weir is 0.7 and the ratio of groove length is 0.6. Leakage of ferrofluid increases with an increase in intensity of current, volume fraction of ferrofluid, rotating speed, pressure differential, spiral angle and ratio of groove length; decreases with an increase in temperature; and increases at first and then decreases with the increase in the ratio of groove width to weir. The tendencies of characteristics of silicone oil are consistent with those of ferrofluid, and the characteristics of silicone oil are smaller than those of ferrofluid under the same condition.

The volume fraction of ferrofluid, rotating speed, spiral angle, ratio of groove width to weir, groove length and temperature have a significant influence on the characteristics of ferrofluid film; however, intensity of current and the pressure differential have slight influence on the characteristics of ferrofluid film. An analytical method for analyzing hydrodynamic lubrication characteristics of ferrofluid film in a spiral groove mechanical seal was proposed based on the Muijderman narrow groove theory.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the monitoring of the friction condition of mechanical seals.

Acoustic emission signals from the friction of the seal end face were obtained, and their bispectral characteristics were extracted. The variation of non-Gaussian information with the degree of friction was investigated, and by combining bispectral characteristics with information entropy, a bispectral entropy index was established to represent the friction level of the seal end face.

In the start-up stage, the characteristic frequency amplitude of the micro-convex body contact is obvious, the friction of the end face is abnormal, the complexity of the system increases in a short time and the bispectral entropy rises continuously in a short time. In the stable operation stage, the characteristic frequency amplitude of the micro-convex body contact varies with the intensity of the seal face friction, the seal face friction is stable and the bispectral entropy fluctuates up and down for a period of time.

The bispectral analysis method is applied to the seal friction monitoring, the seal frequency domain characteristics are extracted, the micro-convex body contact characteristic frequency is defined and the bispectral entropy characteristic index is proposed, which provides a certain theoretical basis for the mechanical seal friction monitoring.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2023-0242/