Low-maintenance seal assembly for a vertically aligned industrial gearbox

A seal assembly for an industrial transmission, the seal assembly comprising:

• a vertically aligned lower power shaft designed to exchange torque with the industrial transmission;
• a transmission component of the industrial transmission, the transmission component arranged radially outside the power shaft, wherein the power shaft has a rotational speed which is greater than a rotational speed of the transmission component during operation;
• a contactless first seal provided between the transmission component and the power shaft and including a conical first sealing gap, which is beveled in a direction of gravity and runs from radially outside to radially inside counter to the direction of gravity;
• and
• a first overflow channel running downward to at least a large extent in the direction of gravity and communicating with the first sealing gap, the first overflow channel designed to end below the first sealing gap in the direction of gravity and embodied as an annular gap with a substantially constant flow cross section such as to avoid formation of a labyrinth seal.

An industrial transmission, comprising:

• a vertically aligned power shaft for introducing a torque, the power shaft being a planet carrier shaft or sun shaft of a planetary transmission;
• a transmission component designed to rotate more slowly in comparison to the power shaft during operation or being at a standstill, the transmission component designed in a form of a ring gear and/or transmission housing of the planetary transmission;
• and
• a seal assembly for retaining lubricant, the sealing assembly comprising the power shaft, the transmission component arranged radially outside the power shaft, a contactless first seal provided between the transmission component and the power shaft and including a conical first sealing gap, which is beveled in a direction of gravity and runs from radially outside to radially inside counter to the direction of gravity, and a first overflow channel running downward to at least a large extent in the direction of gravity and communicating with the first sealing gap, the first overflow channel designed to end below the first sealing gap in the direction of gravity and embodied as an annular gap with a substantially constant flow cross section such as to avoid formation of a labyrinth seal.