Reasons for wear of high-temperature mechanical seals
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The mechanical seal has been in use for less than a month; flushing and cooling are working properly, yet it still wears out like this. What could be the reason? This issue has occurred several times – please advise, experts
Torus material, medium temperature, medium name, flushing scheme
The material of the mechanical seal ring surface is an alloy; the medium temperature is 380 degrees, and the medium is crude oil. The flushing scheme is PLAN21+62
Are both tori made of cemented carbide? Are there any thermal cracks that penetrate the torus (torus cracking)? Has there been any occurrence of a cutoff in the PLAN62 quench fluid flow?
Is the heat exchanger clogged? Does the fluid in the heat exchanger solidify after the pump stops?
The temperature of the heat exchanger has always been around 170 degrees
Even when the pump stops, it can still maintain 170 degrees
When the pump stops, there’s no flow of fluid. Before starting the pump, steam is flowing through the system; once the pump starts, the heat exchange pipelines are immediately filled with fluid, and the temperature of those pipelines rises rapidly. If the flow isn’t established, the temperature of some pipelines remains unchanged. Our other pumps also experience issues where the heat exchangers don’t allow proper flow of fluid
One of our pumps has blocked heat exchange pipelines; the mechanical seal isn’t severely worn either – there are only slight grooves on its surface
This pump is the best-performing one; it has been in operation for about 3 weeks, while other pumps have their seal fail after just one week of use