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Air-purged seals clear caramelised sugar

A Meco Shaft Seals product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 9, 2008

Unlike traditional mechanical seals, MECO seal faces are soft, fault-tolerant and almost impossible to break.

Processors of sugar-containing products have to deal with the sugar in the process abrading the turning shaft and the packing in the stuffing box.

MECO seals are custom-designed and manufactured for each application and can be retrofitted to process equipment

MECO seals are custom-designed and manufactured for each application and can be retrofitted to process equipment

The friction of this abrasion raises the temperature to a point at which the sugar caramelises.

The temperature of the caramel rises exponentially with continued friction, sometimes to the point of ignition.

If it doesn't burn off, it just hardens when it cools.

This overheating and caramelising problem creates product discolouration in white sugar.

The packing gland seal used to be the only type of seal available for sugar processing equipment, such as conveyors and white pan mixers.

With this type of seal bits of the teflon packing or caramelised sugar enter the process.

Many sugar processors have found that the solution to the problem lies in replacing the traditional packing glands on their machines with MECO air-purged mechanical shaft seals.

The MECO concept is based on the use of a driving elastomer.

There are no internal springs to loosen, corrode or break.

Since this self-compensating driving elastomer is the seals' only contact with the shaft, the seals will accommodate significant shaft run-out, misalignment and shock loads, as well as thermal growth in high-temperature process machinery.

MECO seals are custom-designed and manufactured for each application and can be retrofitted to process equipment such as dryers, white pan mixers and conveyors.

MECO incorporates up to 6mm of runout/misalignment capacity into its seal designs.

Seals are available in unsplit and fully-split versions, allowing installation without the removal of drive or bearings.

Unlike traditional mechanical seals, MECO seal faces are soft, fault-tolerant and almost impossible to break.

Find out more about this article. Request a brochure, download technical specifications and request samples here.

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