High efficiency seal devices for shaft bearings

Abstract

A seal system for a bearing having a housing with a chamber therein for receiving a shaft supported by a bearing assembly therein. The sealing system includes three and preferably four seal devices integrally related by means of a seal ring detachably retained within an exterior chamber of the housing. One of the seal devices is in the form a V-ring which has its flexible lip held in sealing engagement with a surface of the housing by the positioning of the ring in its operating condition. Another seal device in the form of a quad-ring, O-ring or the like is mounted in a groove in the ring and is held tightly fixed upon the shaft. The rotation of the seal ring provides a third seal device by being adapted to fling moisture and contaminants which may run along the shaft during rotation thereof. The fourth seal device is in the form of a labyrinth seal between a wall of the seal ring and a cooperating wall of the bearing housing. Each of the four seal devices provides a specific sealing characteristic and usefulness which combine to provide high efficiency sealing for large bearings allowing for extreme bearing misalignment.