Patent ID: 6145840
Filing Date: 2000-11-14
Classification: F16J

Abstract:
A hydrostatic seal assembly used to restrict the flow of fluid from a relatively higher pressure region in a housing to a relatively lower pressure region in the housing at a juncture of a stationary housing member and a rotating shaft member rotating about its axis, said shaft having a sealing surface thereon, said assembly comprising:(a) a non-rotating seal ring member mounted around said shaft and having a primary annular sealing face surface positioned for movement toward and away from said shaft sealing surface and forming a seal gap therebetween to break down the pressure across the seal ring member, said seal ring member sealing face surface having a first and a second edge thereon, said first edge of said seal ring sealing face surface being exposed to the higher pressure region in said housing and said second edge of said seal ring sealing face surface being exposed to the lower pressure region,(b) said seal ring sealing face surface being formed to converge toward said shaft sealing surface along the gap in the direction from said first edge of said seal ring sealing surface toward the second edge thereof to provide a converging flow path in said seal gap from said first edge toward said second edge and forming only a single sealing dam adjacent said second edge, said seal ring sealing face surface being intentionally formed with a geometry that converges toward said shaft seal surface a distance sufficient to deliberately create, when the higher pressure region is pressurized, a Reynolds number for the fluid in the seal gap of more than 1800, thus providing turbulent fluid flow within and along said seal gap, whereby a larger clearance between said seal ring sealing face surface and said shaft sealing surface is thus created than would exist for laminar flow along said seal gap.