Waterless Gland Assembly for Rotating Equipment
OwnerTimothy Neal Hilliardinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A self-aligning, self-lubricated waterless-gland assembly disposed about a rotatable shaft between a process side and an atmosphere side, comprising a shaft-sleeve disposed about, contacting, and rotatable with the shaft, an annular case connected to and rotatable with the shaft-sleeve, and a stationary elastomeric boot member disposed about the shaft-sleeve, substantially filling the annular case and arranged to form a sealing interface. The waterless-gland assembly is applicable to devices whereby a fluid is movable between an inlet and an outlet.
Claims20
A gland seal configured to be accommodated within a stuffing box bore of a stuffing box, the stuffing box having at least one bolt circle and the stuffing box bore having a stuffing box mating surface, the gland seal to seal against the passage of slurry between a housing and a rotating solid shaft from a process side to an atmosphere side, the gland seal comprising:
- a gland body having a flange with at least one bolt hole aligned with the at least one bolt circle, wherein the gland body defines an inner chamber that accommodates a shaft-sleeve configured to accommodate the rotating solid shaft, the shaft-sleeve having an inner shaft mating surface and an outer surface;
- a radial extension extending from the outer surface of the shaft-sleeve to form an annular receptacle;
- and
- an elastomeric boot having a first end portion that fits into the annular receptacle and a second end portion that fits into an annular boot keeper that rests on an annular boot keeper compression surface when the first end portion is fully inserted into the annular receptacle;
- wherein the second end portion is offset from the first end portion when the annular boot keeper rests on the annular boot keeper compression surface.
A gland seal configured to be accommodated within a stuffing box bore of a stuffing box with at least one bolt circle, the gland seal to seal a slurry on a process side from passing along a rotating shaft to an atmosphere side, the stuffing box comprising:
- a primary gland body having a primary cavity and a flange with at least one bolt hole aligning with the at least one bolt circle;
- a primary shaft sleeve accommodated within the primary gland body, the primary shaft sleeve having an external surface and a cylindrical internal shaft mating surface to accommodate the rotating shaft;
- a labyrinth housing extending from the external surface to define a radial labyrinth cavity that accommodates a first end portion of an elastomeric boot;
- wherein the elastomeric boot has a length and a thickness and wherein the length is a multiple of the thickness.
A seal to prevent passage of a slurry from a process side to an atmosphere side of a rotating shaft, the seal comprising:
- a stuffing box having a stuffing box bore and at least one bolt circle;
- a primary gland body having a primary cavity and a flange with at least one bolt hole aligning with the at least one bolt circle;
- a primary shaft sleeve having a cylindrical internal shaft mating surface to accommodate the rotating shaft and an external surface;
- a labyrinth housing extending from the external surface to define a radial labyrinth cavity that accommodates a radially collapsible elastomeric boot;
- and
- wherein the primary gland body is bored to fit the primary shaft sleeve within the primary cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.