Monitoring of a sealing arrangement, particularly of a gas compressor or gas expander

A flow machine, comprising:

• a housing;
• a shaft arranged in the housing;
• and
• a sealing arrangement for sealing the shaft relative to the housing, the sealing arrangement comprising:
• a shaft sealing ring comprising:
• a shaft conductor surface arrangement having at least one shaft conductor surface;
• a stator sealing ring comprising:
• a stator conductor surface arrangement insulated from the shaft conductor surface arrangement, the stator conductor surface arrangement having at least:
• a first stator conductor surface;
• and
• a second stator conductor surface that is electrically insulated from the first stator conductor surface;
• wherein:
• the first and second stator conductor surfaces complement one another to form a substantially circular ring;
• and
• the shaft sealing ring and the stator sealing ring define a sealing gap through which work medium flows during operation;
• the sealing arrangement further comprising a capacitive measuring device coupled to the stator conductor surface arrangement, the capacitive measuring device being configured to detect an electric capacitance between the first and second stator conductor surfaces of the shaft conductor surface.