Having spoken about bearings last month, we now move our focus to Sealing Solutions and how these seemingly simple but crucial components affect performance of your industrial machinery and systems.
In part I, we learned how to choose an oil seal.
At first glance, an oil seal is a simple and relatively inexpensive component. Oil seals serve two functions:
1) To prevent the leakage of lubricants, chemicals or water; and
2) to prevent entry of contaminants like dust and dirt into machinery.
As it is much cheaper than other major industrial components like bearings, shafts and pumps, the importance of oil seals is often overlooked.
This can be potentially costly if oil seals fail and cause seal leakage. Seal leakage will lead to greater oil wastage and can incur massive costs if it is not addressed.
Common causes of oil seal failure are poor installation and wrong seal selection.
Wrong selection can lead to excessive internal pressure on the seal; swelling; premature wear, lip hardening and cracks. Over time, this will result in premature seal failure and oil leakage.
Maintenance engineers and technicians need to consider a variety of factors when selecting oil seals.
There are 4 important factors you should look out for:
- Temperature
- Pressure
- Concentricity
- Lubricants
Below is an infographic that explains why these factors are essential when selecting oil seals:
In addition to the wide range of seals that we offer, SLS also has experienced product engineers who are able to advise you the best type of seal for your specific application.
SLS is an authorized distributor of NOK oil seals. NOK is Japan's first oil seal manufacturer, and manufactures high quality oil seals and O-rings for a wide variety of industries globally.
