Extrusion Gap Seal Case Study
The Clients Issue
The client came to our partners at Eclipse with a challenge: for the sealing requirements of their existing spring energized seal to provide optimal performance in a “worst case” scenario.
The client had an issue with outside seals failing at the deepest possible ocean depth and at max temperature of the instrument.
When tested, the seals were failing at the max temperature of 300°F.
The Solution
A re-design of the seals was in order. This time, to handle the 15,000 psi, while working with the client’s original hardware space limitations and maintaining the (extremely large for 15k psi) 0.012” extrusion gap.
The seals were re-designed to incorporate a small wedge style (or cammed) EP033: PEEK back-up rings. The seal material was changed to Eclipse’s ET025 high-fill percentage Polyimide PTFE, and the seal lip thickness was increased to help with extrusion resistance.
How it Performed
The client had to make only a simple modification to their existing hardware to fit the new seal design, which now meets leakage and life requirements at the high pressure and temperature.
The original article can be found on Eclipse's website.
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