Working Performance of Push Ring’s Spring Energized Seal

Seal ring of the push ring in the dry gas seal is related to the floatability and tracing ability of compensated ring. By establishing a 2-D axisymmetric equivalent model of spring energized seal ring, the sealing characteristics and friction characteristics of spring energized seal rings with and without a boss were simulated under different working conditions. The results showed that the maximum contact pressure of two kinds of spring energized seal rings increased with the increase of medium pressure and precompression rate, and they had good self-tight characteristics. The friction of the spring energized seal ring was large and not ignorable. When the push ring moved in the axial direction, the spring energized seal rings with and without a boss structure showed different friction behaviors. When the push ring moved along ±Z direction, the friction characteristic curves of the spring energized seal ring without a boss were similar. However, the spring energized seal ring with a boss had a larger breakaway distance when the push ring moves in Z direction. It had smaller maximum static friction, and the difference between sliding friction and maximum static friction was smaller resulting in a smooth slide when the push ring moved along the -Z direction, which were beneficial for the compensated ring to return to the designed working position.