Posted to News on 5th Jun 2006, 00:00
When a standard seal simply won't do
Taking into account factors like dimensional restraints, operating environment and exposure to aggressive oils, greases and chemicals, Blue Diamond will custom engineer a seal with the right characteristics for almost any application. This will include the specification for the dimensions and materials of the body and lip of the seal.
Factors such as the geometry of the lip, radial load and materials all affect the performance of a seal and, with so many different applications, materials and design options, designing the correct seal can be a daunting task. The engineers at Blue Diamond have access to powerful CAD and parametrics packages that allow the physical details of the seal such as the inner and outer dimensions, materials and seal type to be input into the program. Finite element analysis (FEA) software is used to analyse the stresses in the seal to ensure it has sufficient mechanical strength, and the program can even simulate the effects of wear in a virtual environment. This allows seals to be carefully optimised to take account of the demands of each application.
