Self-aligning seal assembly

A seal assembly for a rotatable shaft supported by a bearing in a bearing housing, the seal assembly including an inner seal carrier supporting seals for engagement with the shaft and an outer carrier, the outer carrier supporting the inner seal carrier and having an inner curved surface, the inner seal carrier having an outer curved surface allowing angular positional adjustment of the inner seal carrier within the outer carrier, a flexible seal between the outer carrier and the bearing housing, and the seal assembly including oil within a cavity between the seals;

• wherein the oil is within the cavity at a pressure at or above atmospheric pressure at the location of the seal assembly;
• wherein the oil is at a pressure between about 0.1 bar and about 0.8 bar;
• wherein the inner seal carrier has at least one oil hole for filling oil and/or purging air from the cavity between the seals in the inner seal carrier;
• wherein the at least one oil hole is sealed by at least one corresponding sealing means;
• wherein the at least one sealing means includes a respective valve that retains pressure within the cavity and openable when pressure is applied externally to apply oil into the cavity or replenish oil into the cavity;
• and
• wherein the outer carrier including holes allowing the seal assembly to be sufficiently fastened by a plurality of bolts to a face of the bearing housing whilst allowing movement of the seal assembly for maintaining alignment with the shaft with the flexible seal maintaining sealing between the outer carrier and the bearing housing.