Mechanical seal housing design - Are there real benefits, and do we want them?

The design of the chamber for mechanical seals in rotary pumps has been a subject of discussion ever since the use of these seals became widespread in the 1960s. Over the last 20 years there has been a lot of effort at both industrial and research organizations to investigate potential improved housing designs. This article reviews some of the ideas and research work published over the last 40 years. The work has included extensive experimental evaluation and, more recently, computational fluid dynamics. The potential benefits include both improved reliability and energy savings, but acceptance within the industry, or even the will to evolve an optimum compromise, still seems to be elusive.