Novel Fluid End Packing Assembly

A seal packing assembly for a plunger disposed within an annular bore to pump a pumping fluid in a fluid end of a hydraulic pump, comprising:

• at least three annular dynamic seals disposed within annular grooves circumferentially defined in the annular bore;
• at least two annular seal chambers disposed between the at least three annular dynamic seals;
• a packing gland circumferentially housing a section of the plunger;
• and
• at least two seal manifolds distributed and defined within the packing gland, each seal manifold defining a port at one end exposed to the pumping fluid and further defining a clean lubrication fluid inlet proximate to a second end, the fluid inlet coupled to a lube pump via a high-pressure check valve, where the clean lubrication fluid housed in the seal manifolds is maintained at a constant pressure, each seal manifold comprises:
• a piston disposed within the seal manifold having a first end configured with a first surface area to interface with the pumping fluid and a second end configured with a second surface area to interface with the clean lubrication fluid;
• and
• a fluid port configured to provide fluid communication between the seal manifold and the at least two annular seal chambers;
• and
• wherein the pumping fluid-interfacing end of the at least four pistons of the at least four seal manifolds have different surface areas, and the fluid ports of the at least four seal manifolds are disposed between different annular dynamic seals.

A seal packing assembly for a plunger disposed within an annular bore to pump a pumping fluid in a fluid end of a hydraulic pump, comprising:

• a plurality of annular dynamic seals disposed within annular grooves circumferentially defined in the annular bore;
• a seal chambers disposed between each pair of the plurality of annular dynamic seals;
• a packing gland circumferentially housing a section of the plunger and the plurality of annular dynamic seals and seal chambers;
• and
• a plurality of seal manifolds distributed about the plunger and defined within the packing gland, each seal manifold defining a port at one end exposed to the pumping fluid and further defining a clean lubrication fluid inlet proximate to a second end, the fluid inlet coupled to a lube pump via a high-pressure check valve to provide a clean lubrication fluid to the seal manifolds at a constant pressure, each seal manifold comprises:
• a piston disposed within the seal manifold having a first end configured with a first surface area to interface with the pumping fluid and a second end configured with a second surface area to interface with the clean lubrication fluid;
• and
• a fluid port configured to provide fluid communication between the seal manifold and the annular seal chambers;
• and
• wherein the pumping fluid-interfacing end of the at least four pistons of the seal manifolds have different surface areas to create a differential pressure among the plurality of annular dynamic seals.