6/18/2019 Understanding Spring-Energized Seals and When to Use Them - Reliability Matters

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Understanding Spring-Energized Seals and

When to Use Them
JUNE 14, 2017 BY ISTVAN HAJZER

Spring-energized seals provide durable and reliable sealing solutions in critical

applications and under extreme operating conditions in di erent industries.

This seal design extends the operating limits of polymer-based seals by:

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Providing gas-tight sealing systems to end-users

Helping to achieve fugitive emission reduction goals
Meeting environmental regulation requirements

Spring-energized seals are a highly reliable option when standard elastomer-based and
polyurethane-based seals will not meet the operating limits, equipment parameters, or
environmental conditions of your application. Even when a standard seal might meet
basic needs, many engineers turn to spring-energized seals for an added level of
reliability and peace of mind.

Spring-Energized Seal Design

Basic design parameters of spring-energized seals:

Made from high-performance

uoroplastic compounds and
engineered plastics that have
outstanding physical
and technical characteristics, but
are rigid rather than exible.
Use springs to provide a
consistent load throughout the circumference of the seal and create a leak-tight
seal between the jacket and the hardware.
Use system pressure to create an additional sealing force between the jacket and
the hardware.
In this combination, the spring forces the seal lips against the gland and rod
surfaces, while pressure assists the spring force.
The result: virtual leak-free sealing, high reliability, longer asset life.

When to Use Spring Energized Seals?

Outstanding physical features and technical characteristics make spring-energized seals
the ideal choice in wide variety of critical industrial equipment and applications.

Spring-energized seals can be used in both dynamic and static applications. Dynamic
applications cover reciprocating (linear), rotary, and oscillating movements or any
combination.

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Considerations when determining whether to use standard polymeric seals or spring-

energized seals include:

Temperature (operating and ambient possible maximum/minimum)

Operating pressure (what is not necessarily the maximum pressure in the
system)
Velocity (moving speed)
Media (chemical compatibility: especially important in case of aggressive medias)
Friction level and wear
Environment (for example, abrasive conditions)
Application and operation of the equipment
Seal cavity con guration
Shelf-life limitation

Where to Use Spring Energized Seals?

Spring-energized seals are used in a broad range of rotary, reciprocating, oscillating,
and stationary uid power and material process equipment/systems.

Primary industrial areas for use include:

Oil & Gas Industry (upstream and downstream)

Aerospace
Instrumentation
Chemical processing
Energy sector
Medical
Military
Transportation
Automotive

Sample: Oil & Gas Industry Applications

Focusing on the Oil & Gas Industry, typical spring-energized applications are:

Transfer systems:

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Couplings (connect/disconnect and breakaway)

Swivel Joints

Subsea equipment:
Valves and Manifolds
Flowmeters
Hydraulic Couplings
Pumps

Exploration:
Tools (drilling and downhole)
Wellheads (surface and subsea)

Floating production:
Turret Swivels

O shore Platforms:
Pumps
Compressors

Application-related
challenges:

Cryogenic temperature
Rapid gas decompression
High pressure and/or high
temperature
Aggressive chemicals
Harsh environment
Low fugitive emissions

How Do Spring-Energized Seals Work?

Spring-energized seals are generally manufactured from high-performance uoroplastic
compounds and engineered plastics.

Typical material grades are:

PTFE (virgin and lled versions)

PEEK compounds (un lled and lled versions)

These materials have outstanding physical and technical characteristics, but they are
not elastic. They are better characterized as rigid. That is the reason why di erent type
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of springs must be used to mechanically energize the seal lips. So the technical term
“Spring Energized Seal” re ects on the design/construction of the sealing device, where
the spring compensates for polymer materials with low memory/elasticity.

Sealing Forces of a Spring-Energized Seal:

1. When the seal is installed into the seal cavity, the seal lips and spring energizer are
deformed/compressed in radial direction.
2. The spring energizes the jacket, providing resilience to lips (pushing the the seal
lips out) and resulting in an e ective sealing device in dynamic and static
applications. This creates gas-tight sealing against the counter surfaces.
3. Further, the radial tension (created and maintained by the spring in the seal jacket)
keeps the sealing lips in contact to the counter surfaces (even before the system
pressure is applied, providing good low pressure sealing capability)
4. When system pressure is applied, the spring action is intensi ed. This increases
the sealing force on the seal lips, improving the sealing e ciency. That is why the
radial tension is always higher than the pressure to be sealed.

This tension can also compensate for:

Moderate equipment deformation

De ection eccentricity cause by possible misalignment
Manufacturing tolerances and clearances
Wear out, and thermal expansion and contraction.

The spring can help compensate the wear of dynamic seal lips, too.

Seal Jacket Materials

The seal jackets in spring-energized seals
are made of various high-performance
materials:

Fluoroplastic compounds

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Engineered plastics such as

UHMWPE, PEEK, TPE, PCTFE, etc.

The Bene ts of Fluoroplastic Seal

Jackets

Fluoroplastic (i.e., PTFE-based) materials

are the most commonly used seal jacket
material. They have outstanding physical
and chemical features combined with
moderated cost and good machine-
ability.

With usage of di erent llers, properties

of PTFE compounds can be improved
further related to seal performance (such
as tensile strength, wear resistance, etc.).
But not all properties can be increased signi cantly. Filler content is typically between
5% and 40% by weight.

Typical llers:

Bronze
Glass ber and/or Molybdenum disulphide (MoS2)
Graphite and/or carbon
Ceramics and mineral oxides
Stainless steel
Other additives to meet speci c requirements.

The advantages of PTFE compounds include:

Extremely wide temperature tolerance: -268°C to over +260°C

Temperature cycling resistance (material degradation, heat aging)
Lowest coe cient of friction for a seal material
Dry running capability
High surface speed capability
High PV factor ( as an average PV of up to 150,000 in non-lubricated applications)
Resistance to virtually every known chemical and solvent.
No chemical swell when subjected to moisture or uids
Does not support combustion or spread of ame
Excellent weatherability
Wear resistance

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Material Temperature Limits:

Pressure-Velocity (PV) Factor:

Spring Types
As it was described earlier, the main function of the spring energizer is to provide a
radial force at the seal jacket sealing points when installed into the seal cavity. This

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feature compensates for materials with low memory/elasticity. In addition, the spring
energizer adds exibility to the jacket sealing points to compensate for eccentricity and
material wear out as well.

Spring-energized seals are available with a variety of spring energizers, each with
di erent mechanical characteristics to meet speci c application requirements.

There are several factors that guide the spring selection:

Surface speed
Frictional load and friction
Wear
Operating temperature
Sealability
Equipment and operation factors

As an example, the frictional load generated by the seal is a direct result of the radial
load of the selected spring, pressure load of the system, and the coe cient of friction of
the material selected. So the spring load can be tailored to meet special low friction
requirements in dynamic applications. Extremely high spring load might be required for
low temperatures or cryogenic sealing applications. It will compensate for thermal
contraction of the seal jacket that provides tight sealing.

The most typical spring designs used in spring-energized seals:

Continuous Contact Spring (A)

Cantilever Spring (B)
Helical Wound Spring (C)
Elliptical Coil Spring (D)

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Di erent spring types have di erent spring characteristics, described by the

Displacement/Load ratio. The typical spring characteristic curves of each spring type are
demonstrated by following chart:

Due to the wide range of media/ uids and operating conditions/temperatures, a variety
of spring materials are utilized such as 300 Stainless Steel Series (SS) 301, 302, 304 and
316. In case of more critical applications, special materials are o ered : Inclonel®,
Elgiloy® and Hastelloy®.

Meeting the Demands of Complex Processes

As new industrial technologies and manufacturing processes require more extreme
parameters and operating conditions, spring-energized seals are being used more as
the optimal sealing solution in reciprocating, rotary and oscillating applications.

Increased production and equipment demands in the form of higher temperatures,

higher speeds, extreme pressure and environment, fast gas decompression and
aggressive medias make applications much more critical. In turn, these parameters
apply excessive demands for standard seals and polymeric and poly-based seals
material which have inherent rigorous physical limitations.

If you would like assistance selecting the best spring-energized seal solution for your
speci c critical application, view our Fluid Power Equipment seal o erings or contact
our Ask the Expert desk.

Istvan Hajzer
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Istvan R. Hajzer is the Global Product Line Manager for Engineered

Polymer Solutions of A.W. Chesterton Company. He holds an MSc
degree in Marine Engineering (with special studies in hydraulic driving
and control systems) and an MBA. He has over 18 years' experience in
the areas of heavy duty hydraulic/pneumatic and press machine
applications. Istvan has helped customers from diverse industries
upgrade critical uid power equipment.

FILED UNDER: SEALING, SPRING ENERGIZED SEALS

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