Effect of Contact Condition between Seal Rings on Oil Leakage from Floating Seals

Abstract

Floating seals are used as seals around the shafts of bulldozers and other construction machinery with crawler tracks, and are mechanical elements that seal lubricating oil and prevent the intrusion of earth and sand from outside. In this study, we focused on the occurrence of oil leakage due to eccentricity between seal rings and investigated the relationship between the contact state between seal rings and the occurrence of oil leakage through experiments and analysis. As a result, it was found that oil leakage is more likely to occur when the eccentricity between the seal rings increases. The results of the contact analysis showed that as the eccentricity increased, a distribution of contact conditions on the seal surface occurred, and the location of the oil leakage coincided with the vicinity of the boundary position where the contact conditions changed. In order to clarify the occurrence of leakage, it is necessary to study in detail the changes in contact conditions near the boundary.