Mechanical face seal with trapezoidal shaped grooves on a sealing face

A mechanical face seal for providing a seal between a pair of relatively rotatable components comprising a first sealing ring adapted to be mounted non-rotatably on one of said components and sealed with respect to said one component;

• a second sealing ring adapted to be mounted non-rotatably on the other component and sealed with respect to said other component, said second sealing ring being mounted in axial alignment with the first sealing ring;
• and means being provided for resiliently urging a sealing face of the first sealing ring axially into sealing engagement with a sealing face of the second sealing ring;
• the sealing face of one of said sealing rings having a plurality of grooved areas spaced angularly around its circumference, the grooved areas opening to one edge of the sealing face, a continuous annular dam formation being provided between the grooved areas and the other edge of the sealing face, each grooved area having;
• at least two trailing edges relative to rotation in one direction, said trailing edges being defined by walls inclined in the plane of the face at an obtuse angle to said one direction of rotation;
• and
• at least one trailing edge relative to rotation in an opposite direction, said trailing edge being defined by a wall inclined in the plane of the face at an obtuse angle to said opposite direction of rotation;
• and
• the trailing edges relative to each direction of rotation each being terminated by a transverse wall extending circumferentially of the seal face.