Product category:
Seals
News Release from: CinchSeal | Subject: 7550 series
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 13 September 2006
Seals keep bulk materials in their place
KWS Manufacturing Company uses CinchSeals on all its screw conveyors, screw feeders, vertical screw conveyors, shaftless screw conveyors, bucket elevators and continuous mixers.
Bulk materials leaking out at the shaft seals of screw conveyors and processing equipment have been a problem for many years Many bulk materials are hazardous and can cause injury to personnel or damage to the environment
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 14 Sep 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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In addition, leakage can reduce the life of the equipment by contaminating the bearings and causing premature failure.
In order to ensure its products will not leak, KWS Manufacturing Company, an OEM that services the bulk material handling industry, installs CinchSeals (7550 series) on all of its screw conveyors, screw feeders, vertical screw conveyors, shaftless screw conveyors, bucket elevators and continuous mixers.
According to Bill Mecke, Vice President of KWS Manufacturing: "The CinchSeal is designed to keep the bulk materials that are conveyed and processed inside the equipment and not allow any leakage".
"It is an added feature on our equipment that provides superior performance and cost savings to the customer by functioning properly and reducing maintenance".
Ideal for most industrial applications, the 7550 CinchSeal is purgeable and has an abrasion-resistant sealing element.
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It provides a positive, nonleaking seal between the rotating shaft and the end plates of our equipment.
Most of the bulk materials that are conveyed and processed are dry and free flowing, ranging from fine powders to large granular pieces up to 0.5in in size.
"However", says Mecke: "it is common in certain industries such as the wastewater treatment industry to convey wet solids with a high moisture content such as dewatered bio-solids and screenings".
KWS Manufacturing uses the 7550 series seals for equipment sizes as small as 4-inch diameter up to 24in diameter.
The shaft sizes correspond to typical equipment sizes.
For example, a 9in diameter screw conveyor typically has a 2in diameter shaft size.
One of the major benefits of using Cinch Seals says Mecke is that they will not undercut the shafts.
He explains: "Standard gland seals such as a packing gland or split gland seal use square rope packing that is compressed around the diameter of the shaft to create the seal between the shaft and the seal housing".
"The rope packing is designed to wear with normal equipment operation".
"However, when abrasive bulk materials are conveyed, the abrasive material will migrate into the seal area and become impregnated into the rope packing".
"The abrasive material will begin to wear down the outside diameter of the shaft".
"The smaller shaft diameter reduces the strength and torque rating of the shaft and makes the sealing surface uneven and difficult to seal".
KWS Manufacturing uses the CinchSeal for a variety of different applications and industries.
"It works as well with handling a food product as with handling Portland cement", says Mecke.
"For applications requiring products to be conveyed at elevated temperatures, the 7550 Cinch Seal, with the high-temperature sealing element, can typically handle product temperatures up to 450F".
An air or inert gas purge is recommended on the seal to reduce the seal temperature and to keep the hot product out of the seal.
The CinchSeal is considered self-adjusting because the elastomer sealing element provides constant pressure against the sealing surfaces.
Most shaft seals require periodic adjustment to prevent leakage.
The CinchSeal is repairable and designed to disassemble so the sealing element can be replaced.
"The sealing element is relatively easy to replace and is a low-cost item", says Mecke.
"Replacing the sealing element is much more cost-effective than replacing the complete seal unit".
"And, since the CinchSeal is self-adjusting very little or "near zero" maintenance is required".
KWS Manufacturing recently placed a blanket order for a minimum number of seals to be purchased within a year.
"This was our first blanket order with CinchSeal", says Mecke.
"We had been purchasing each seal on an individual basis for each project".
"Now we are purchasing the seals in large quantities".
CinchSeal stocks the seals at its New Jersey facility where they are available for immediate shipment to KWS Manufacturing.
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