There is at least one market growing despite fears of a global recession and it’s not on everyone’s radar: the aerospace industry.
Aviation contributes to 2% of all CO2 emissions, when aviation adopts green technologies, efficiencies and cost reductions will follow. The most significant barrier to utilizing hydrogen in an aircraft is storage.
In certain extreme applications, a part made of individual segments may meet your critical performance requirements better than a single-piece unit.
Really two pieces in one, Qualiseal® Controlled Gap/Bushing seals are the best solution when pressure is an issue.
Controlled gap or bushing seals are comprised of a carbon insert that is shrink-fitted into a separate retaining band. This floating circumferential ring assembly grows at a rate similar to that of the shaft when exposed to elevated temperatures.
Under normal operating conditions, the pressure on the airside is higher than the pressure on the oil side. This creates some air leakage through the controlled gap between the carbon ring and shaft. The differential air pressure, along with the spring load, provide the closing force necessary to maintain contact between the carbon and housing secondary sealing face. Meanwhile, the shaft turns freely within the carbon ring.
The seal design also features a unique stabilizer ring with fins which minimize stress on the carbon ring, thereby maintaining the roundness of the circumferential ring assembly. The dimensional tolerance of the critical inside diameter of the bushing ring is tightly controlled to minimize leakage variations.
Segmented seals ride directly along the shaft and are primarily used in low-pressure applications.
These seals contain a series of segmented carbon rings which contact the shaft or rotor. Segments inside the seal housing are kept in the proper location by anti-rotation keys or pins. A secondary seal is formed by the axial spring loading of the seal rings against the internal surface of the housing face. During movement, a continuous seal is always in contact with either the primary or secondary sealing surfaces.
The pandemic may have halted many industries from growing, but that is not the case for the commercial space market. Jason Riggs, Director of Strategy at Technetics, discussed the market’s future for 2022.
The HELICOFLEX® seal is a high performance, flexible metal seal that has exceptional compression and elastic recovery properties. This seal is composed of a close wound helical spring surrounded by one or more metal jackets. The spring is designed to have a specific compression resistance. During compression, the resulting specific pressure forces the jacket to yield and fill the flange imperfections while ensuring positive contact with the flange sealing faces. Each coil of the helical spring acts independently and allows the seal to conform to surface irregularities on the flange surface.
HELICOFLEX® design flexibility allows Technetics engineers to customize the seal characteristics to match each unique application.
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