Contact and Carbon Ring Shaft Seals¶

Run the Contact and Carbon Ring Shaft Seals MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim¶

This MicroSim marks five numbered zones on FanPedia's exploded shaft seal drawings (pages 149 to 153), set in two rows on one image. The top row shows the three contact seals: the friction shaft seal, with soft seal material clamped by a cover plate; the V-ring shaft seal, a Teflon plate design; and the lip shaft seal, with an elastomer lip in a seal housing that carries a grease fitting. The bottom row shows the two carbon ring seals: the single carbon ring seal, with one split carbon ring behind a cover plate, and the double carbon ring seal, with a lantern ring between two split carbon rings at a purge hole. The names sit in a numbered list under the drawing.

The quiz describes one drawing at a time ("Which drawing has a lantern ring between two rings, for a purge?") in a shuffled order, and you select the matching zone. You get two attempts per prompt. The first wrong answer shows a hint about where to look; the second reveals the drawing and counts as missed. Mastery is 4 of 5 correct on the first attempt. Explore mode is never scored.

How to Use¶

Explore mode (the starting mode). Point at a numbered zone, or Tab to it, to see its name, a one-line summary and the key facts in the panel below. Click it (or press Enter) to open it; opened drawings get a ✓ in the name list and the counter shows how many of the 5 you have visited.
Quiz mode. Press Quiz. The names disappear and a prompt describes one drawing:
- Correct: "✓ Correct:" with the name and summary; the zone gets a green solid border and a ✓ badge.
- Wrong on the first attempt: "✗ Not quite.", the name of the drawing you picked, and a hint that never names the answer.
- Wrong on the second attempt: the answer is marked "Answer" and named, and the prompt counts as missed.
Press Next prompt after each answer. The toolbar shows "Drawings correct: n of 5".
After the fifth prompt, the summary shows your first-attempt score, whether you reached mastery (4 of 5), and each missed prompt with its answer. Retry missed practises the misses (not scored), Start over reshuffles and resets the score, and Back to explore returns to the names.

Keyboard: Tab moves through the zones in number order and then the buttons; Enter or Space selects a zone. After an answer, focus moves to Next prompt, so Enter goes on.

Data label: "Drawing: FanPedia, Twin City Fan, pp. 149-153", shown under the drawing.

Iframe Embed Code¶

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

<iframe src="https://moroshek.github.io/FanTASTIC-textbook/sims/ch16-shaft-seal-types-overlay/main.html"
        height="825px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan¶

Learning Objective¶

The learner will identify the friction, V-ring and lip contact seals and the single and double carbon ring seals on FanPedia's exploded drawings, given a description of each (Bloom: Remember, verb: identify).

Audience¶

Adult professional development: new application engineers, sales staff, representatives and facilities staff.

Duration¶

10 minutes

Prerequisites¶

Chapter 16, sections "Shaft Seals", "Lip and Friction Shaft Seals" and "Carbon Ring Seals".

Activities¶

Explore (3 min): Open all five drawings. For the top row, say what rubs on the shaft in each contact seal. For the bottom row, say which drawing can take a purge supply and which part makes that possible.
Quiz (4 min): Switch to quiz mode and match all five descriptions without going back to explore mode.
Review (3 min): Read the missed list, open those drawings in explore mode, then press Start over for a new order.

Common Misconceptions Addressed¶

A carbon ring seal is one more rubbing contact seal: the split carbon rings float with the shaft and run against it with low friction at very small clearance, so leakage is lower than through a soft contact seal.
The double carbon ring seal is a single ring seal with a spare ring: the lantern ring between the two rings sits at a purge hole, and purge gas fed there slightly above fan pressure means any leakage is purge gas flowing into the fan.
The grease fitting on a lip seal lubricates the bearing: a shaft seal does not touch the bearings; the grease lubricates the lip and fills the gap, which is why the lip seal is also called a grease seal.

Assessment¶

First-attempt score shown in the summary as "First-attempt score: n of 5"; mastery is 4 of 5 on the first attempt.
Pointing at zones and opening infoboxes in explore mode is exploration, not evidence.
Follow-up question: a nominally leak-tight fan handles a gas the customer must not release, and the customer will pipe a purge line. Which bottom-row drawing fits, and which part receives the purge gas?

References¶

FanPedia: The Fan & Blower Encyclopedia (PDF) - Twin City Fan; pp. 149-153 hold the friction (p. 149), V-ring (p. 150), lip (p. 151), single ring mechanical (p. 152) and double ring mechanical (p. 153) shaft seal drawings used here.
FanPedia online - Twin City Fan's online version of the encyclopedia.
Chapter 16: Bearings, Shafts and Shaft Seals - the sections "Lip and Friction Shaft Seals" and "Carbon Ring Seals"; this MicroSim is embedded at the end of "Carbon Ring Seals".
Shaft Seal Identifier - sorts text cards into seven seal types with schematic cross-sections, including these five.
Stuffing Box Seal With Gas Purge - the stuffing box seal, the third seal family, on FanPedia's exploded view.