Dry gas seal
AssigneeNuovo Pignone Tecnologie Srl
InventorsFilippo Gerbi, Emanuele Rizzo, Andrea Bernocchi, Marco Marrazzo, Leonardo Baldassarre, Amelia Lavinia Ricchiuti
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A dry gas seal for sealing the shaft of a turbomachinery, provided with means for the continuous health monitoring of the dry gas seal comprising one or more sensors adapted to measure strains and/or loads induced to the primary ring of the dry gas seal and/or strains induced to one or more of the elastic elements coupled to the primary ring and/or adapted to measure displacements of the primary ring or of an element coupled to the primary ring, for an early detection of failure of the seal, thus enabling main failures early detection capability and proactive maintenance actions.
Claims14
A dry gas seal for sealing a shaft of a turbomachine, the seal comprising:
- a mating ring configured to be coupled to the shaft of the turbomachine to rotate at shaft rotational speed;
- a primary ring that seals against the mating ring, the primary ring configured to be anti-rotationally coupled to a static part of the turbomachine;
- at least one elastic element abutting against the primary ring and preloaded to push the primary ring against the mating ring;
- and
- at least one sensor coupled to the primary ring to measure strains or loads induced to the primary ring and to the at least one elastic element, or displacements of the primary ring.
A method for monitoring the status of a dry gas seal in a turbomachine, the method comprising:
- providing at least one sensors arranged with the dry gas seal, wherein the dry gas seal comprises:
- a mating ring configured to be coupled to a shaft of the turbomachine to rotate at shaft rational speed;
- a primary ring that seals against the mating ring, the primary ring configured to be anti-rationally coupled to a static part of the turbomachine;
- and
- at least one elastic element abutting against the primary ring and preloaded to push the primary ring against the mating ring;
- wherein the at least one sensor is coupled to the primary ring;
- measuring a value of at least one strain or load or displacement of the primary ring via the at least one sensor;
- setting a threshold limit for the measured value measured by the at least one sensor;
- comparing the measured value with the threshold limit;
- and
- activating an alarm upon the measured value exceeding the threshold limit.
A system for the monitoring and early detection of fault of dry gas seals of remotely located turbomachines, the system comprising:
- a plurality of dry gas seals, each seal comprising:
- a mating ring configured to be coupled to the shaft of the turbomachine to rotate at shaft rotational speed;
- a primary ring that seals against the mating ring, the primary ring configured to be anti-rotationally coupled to a static part of the turbomachine;
- at least one elastic element abutting against the primary ring and preloaded to push the primary ring against the mating ring;
- and
- at least one sensor coupled to the primary ring to measure strains or loads induced to the primary ring and to the at least one elastic element, or displacements of the primary ring;
- and
- a plurality of communication units configured to interface with the each of the plurality of the dry gas seals of the turbomachines transmit a measured value of at least one strain or load or displacement of the primary ring measured via the at least one sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.