Aktiebolaget Skf

Zongbin Wu

John Arthur Wilkins

Gianni Cognolato

Nora Li

Monica Chen

A seal assembly is for sealing a rotating device and includes a dynamic seal component frictionally engageable with a device rotor and a static seal component frictionally engageable with a device stator. The two seal components are formed therebetween with a contact seal based on a sealing lip and a non-contact seal based on a labyrinth gap. The labyrinth gap is located upstream of the sealing lip on the path of foreign matter entering the seal assembly. A thrust bumper is formed in the labyrinth gap and defines a gap width by its own height during the assembly process. The rotating device may be a hub unit of a vehicle or any rotating machine with a rotor and a stator as core components. The rotating equipment adopting the present seal assembly can obtain significantly improved sealing performance, and thus is fully adapted to severely polluted or extremely humid working conditions.

Seal assembly with labyrinth channel

A bearing seal is provided having inner and outer frames capable of forming a tight fit with a bearing inner ring and with a bearing outer ring respectively. The frames adjacent to each other, at least one of the two formed with an axial lip abutting an inner surface of the other in an axial direction and a radial lip abutting an inner surface of the other in a radial direction, for sealing an axial gap and a radial gap. A flexible convolute structure formed on the radial lip, and the convolute structure is initially formed with at least two hinge points. The hinge points are points of connection and intersection between adjacent bend surfaces in the convolute structure, being the locations of the principal regions where the material actually deforms by bending between adjacent bend surfaces. Predetermined bend angles are formed at the hinge points between adjacent bend surfaces.

Growing community of inventors

Shanghai, China

Zongbin Wu