Patent ID: 6976680

Claim:
A shaft seal structure for blocking a fluid to flow in an axial direction through a ring-shaped space formed between a rotation shaft and a stator section, comprising: a leaf seal ring retained inside a groove in the stator section; and a plurality of planar plates separated from each other in a peripheral direction of the rotation shaft, said plurality of planar plates being partially contained in the groove in such a way that an outer peripheral end of each planar plate is fixed inside the leaf seal ring and a tip end of each planar plate, extending widthwise in the axial direction, makes a sliding contact with a peripheral surface of the rotation shaft at an acute angle; pushing members disposed between the stator section and the leaf seal ring for forcing the leaf seal ring towards an outer radial direction to separate the leaf seal ring away from the rotation shaft; and pressure guiding grooves for guiding a fluid pressure from a high-pressure-region to a space between an outer peripheral surface of the leaf seal ring and an inner peripheral surface of the stator section through a boundary formed by the planar plates.