Research on Heat Transfer Enhancement Mechanism of Contact Mechanical Seals with Textured Circumference Surface

Flushing was one of the main measures for heat transfer enhancement of mechanical seals. But in some special occasions, the flow rate of flushing was given, so some forced heat transfer measures were needed to improve the operating environment of mechanical seals. Through processing texture on the circumference surfaces of the sealing rings and aiming at the condition of a given amount of flushing, the influences of speed and depth to diameter ratio on interface temperature, local Nu on circumference surfaces and flow field in textured regions were analyzed by SST k-ω turbulence model and Ω method, heat transfer mechanism of texture processed on rotor or stator was compared and analyzed. The results show that under the same working conditions, flow rate of flushing and texture geometric parameters, the heat transfer of rotor is better if the texture is set on the circumference surfaces of rotor and stator separately. Under the same speed, when texture is processed on the circumference surface of rotor, reduction of the aspect ratio may increase the areas with poor heat transfer inside the texture and weakened heat transfer. But when texture is processed on the circumference surfaces of stator, the conclusion is completely opposite. As the speed increases, a new area of poor heat transfer appears in a small aspect ratio rotor texture, the heat transfer intensity per unit area is decreased significantly. Therefore, in order to obtain better heat transfer effectiveness, the small aspect ratio texture may be selected under low speed, and the large aspect ratio texture may be selected under high speed. © 2023 China Mechanical Engineering Magazine Office. All rights reserved.