Hydraulic Seal--Inquiry

[treelovinghippy]

Hi Folks,

Im new here and coming looking for help. Can someone tell me if its possible to get a hydraulic seal to work if its moving in a linear fashion on a curved axis. Say like an o-ring thats required for a dynamic seal that moves linearly on a curved axis. Also, just to make it a bit more interesting; if the curved element that the o ring moves on is a tube which slightly deforms in profile as it curves, could a seal cope with this? All help is greatly appreciated!

[PinkertonD]

if the curved element that the o ring moves on is a tube which slightly deforms in profile as it curves, could a seal cope with this? All help is greatly appreciated!

What pressures, and diameters are we talking about here? It would be very unlikely an o-ring will like being deformed and sliding in it's groove. An o-ring basically seals by the pressure behind it forcing it into the groove and against the moving component. There is no intended design room for radial movement, well maybe a few thousandths would be acceptable.

A lip-seal design or a concertina design, would be much more capable of following a changing contour, but that would depend a lot on pressures, movement speed, surface finish of the moving component etc. Also, you would have to have the seals manufactured to your specifications. That ain't cheap.

Without knowing more about what you are actually trying to do, it sounds like a fairly impossible task if you want any useful working life from the seal. I would strongly suggest a re-think on the entire design-approach as it is not hydraulic friendly as you have described it.

[RWOLFEJR]

... Say like an o-ring thats required for a dynamic seal that moves linearly on a curved axis. Also, just to make it a bit more interesting; if the curved element that the o ring moves on is a tube which slightly deforms in profile as it curves, could a seal cope with this?...

What is guiding this seal? The tube alone? I can't understand where this source of pressure is acting on this seal. Is there a pair of bent tubes, one inside the other... and you require a seal between both like a bent piston? How much travel are we talking about, over what kind of radius? I'm guessing the workload is far less than the work required to bend this tube in the first place right? How many cycles per day / hour / min etc. is this thing going to be in action? How long would you like it to last?

Have a couple of weird ideas that I won't embarrass myself throwing out there until know more about what you're trying to accomplish.

[PinkertonD]

What is guiding this seal?

Two Penguins and a Seagull, it is a blind Seal !

[RWOLFEJR]

OR! OR! OR! OR! (Seal barking sound...)