Radial compressor with radial bearing and radial seal

A radial compressor having a housing and a rotor that is rotatably mounted around a rotation axis in the housing via at least one radial bearing and which has a shaft and at least one impeller connected to the shaft,

• wherein a hydrodynamic radial seal is provided on the shaft along the rotation axis between the radial bearing and the impeller, which has a static sealing partner and the shaft as a dynamic sealing partner,
• wherein the radial seal is configured to reduce and/or to prevent a fluid flow from a high-pressure area on the side of the impeller to the radial bearing arranged in a low-pressure area through gas-dynamic effects and to thereby seal the low-pressure area against the high-pressure area,
• wherein a pressure equalization area is provided between the radial seal and the radial bearing, the pressure equalization area being configured to equalize and/or discharge the fluid flow flowing from the high-pressure area through the radial seal in the direction of the radial bearing,
• wherein further at least one pressure equalization channel is provided that is fluidically connected to the pressure equalization area and configured to discharge fluid from the pressure equalization area and from the radial bearing into the low-pressure area.