What is the required particle size for impurity particles in mechanical seals?
Thread Content
Planning to install two new mechanical seal cooling water pumps; pump inlet and outlet filters need to be selected according to the requirements. Does anyone know if there are any requirements regarding the particle size of impurities for the seal of a cooling water pump? What criteria should I use to choose the mesh size of the filter?
There are standards for mechanical seal flushing schemes, which provide detailed instructions. You can take a look.
Not found. The standard has been found. It only contains an introduction to the operating conditions. There are no detailed requirements regarding particle size.
We weren’t aware of any standards in this regard; our installation and usage instructions only require that the rinse water be clean and that there be sufficient pressure. On-site, failures often occur due to blockages caused by flushing water, as well as the entanglement and deposition of impurities. It is beneficial for the service life to improve the quality of the flushing water and enhance the operating conditions of the mechanical seal, if possible
Since it is used for flushing machine seals, a filter needs to be installed. I don’t know which mesh size filter to choose.
Ask the technical staff of the company whose mechanical seal you are interested in; they know best what particle levels their products can withstand. Moreover, the material and design of the mechanical seal vary depending on the choice made.
During previous projects, I was also puzzled by this issue. API682 does not specify any clear technical requirements regarding the particle size of the seal flushing fluid. I consulted several well-known domestic manufacturers specializing in seals, and they believed that the higher the cleanliness of the flushing fluid, the better the reliability of the seal’s performance. Therefore, with no other options left, on one hand, we removed the small Y-shaped filter elements from the PLAN32 design in order to determine the filtration accuracy; on the other hand, we contacted the designers at the mechanical seal manufacturers to confirm that the filter elements should have a filtration accuracy of 60 mesh. As a result, they can handle hard particles with a maximum diameter of around 0.3 mm.