Rotary face seal assembly

A rotary seal assembly comprising:

• a first member having a sealing face with feeding orifices therein which are positioned in a discontinuous feeding groove in the first member forming a number of feeding groove sections;
• a second member having a sealing face with a number of pumping grooves therein, at least a first set of pumping grooves starting proximate a center portion of the sealing face of the second member and extending outward towards the outer diameter of the second member and at least a second set of pumping grooves starting proximate the center portion of the sealing face of the second member and extending inward towards the inner diameter of the second member to direct fluid fed to the center portion of the sealing face of the second member by the feeding orifices of the first member simultaneously both inwardly and outwardly from the center portion of the sealing face of the second member to provide a uniform fluid film thickness between the sealing faces of the first and second members when one sealing face cones due to thermal and/or pressure effects;
• and
• a holder mounted to whichever member is the stator and movable therewith, and a spring which biases the first and second members apart, a gap between the holder and the stator member responsive to system pressure which overcomes the spring at a predetermined level.

A rotary face seal assembly comprising:

• a stator having a sealing face;
• a rotor having a sealing face in close proximity to the sealing face of the stator;
• a holder for the stator having a back seat which allows the stator to cone negatively when the rotor cones positively and vice versa;
• a spring which biases the stator and the rotor apart;
• a gap between the holder and the stator responsive to system pressure which overcomes the spring at a predetermined level;
• the sealing face of the rotor or the stator partitioned into at least first and second sections, the first section having pumping grooves which extend inwardly towards the inner diameter of the sealing face of the rotor or the stator, the second section having pumping grooves which extend outwardly towards the outer diameter of the sealing face of the rotor or the stator;
• and
• the sealing face of the rotor or the stator having feeding orifices therethrough to direct fluid to the inwardly directed pumping grooves and the outwardly directed pumping grooves simultaneously thereby causing the stator to cone negatively when the rotor cones positively and vice versa, the feeding orifices disposed in a discontinuous feeding groove forming a number of feeding groove sections.