Shaft Seal utilizes non-contacting technology.
Press Release Summary:
Designed to work with shaft diameters from 1-36 in., Water Mizer Shaft Seal accepts severe radial and angular shaft runout up to ½ in. Shaft floats on water barrier directly on shaft, which provides unlimited movement without placing any stress or strain on product. Without moving parts, seal attains zero contact, zero wear, and zero frictional drag. Some typical applications include screw conveyors, mixers, rotary valves, dust collectors, coolers, and transfer pumps.
Original Press Release:
Inpro/Seal Expands Shaft Sealing Product Line to Include Water Mizer
Rock Island, IL - September 24, 2008 -- Building on their highly successful series of shaft seals, Inpro/Seal announces the availability of their Water Mizer Shaft Seal. With the addition of the Water Mizer, Inpro/Seal is now offers a number of shaft sealing systems for use in applications where wet or dry particulates, powders and slurries are handled, processed, packaged and stored.
CONVENTIONAL SEALING METHODS
Prior to the advent of Inpro/Seal's shaft sealing systems, end users used mechanical seals, lip/contact seals and packing as sealing methods. At the time, they had to contend with the fact that these once conventional sealing methods did not last and knew they were dealing with 100% failure rates.
Lip and face seals work on a contact basis and are subject to excess wear on the sealing surfaces as they make contact. Fibrous packings were also subject to wear and short lifetimes from run out where packing in the stuffing boxes compress and create a leak path. Packing can soften to the point where powder or slurries can leak to the outside, causing environmental problems. Some seals could be renewed by tightening, this was but a "short-term" fix.
THE BEARING ISOLATOR ENTERS THE PICTURE
For about ten years, Inpro/Seal Company, headed by David C. Orlowski, the inventor of a bearing protection device known as a bearing isolator he invented in 1979, (patent # 4,022,479) got involved when they had a large number of requests for a long lasting shaft seal. In 1999, following extensive R & D, field testing and trials, they unveiled their original shaft seal, the Air Mizer(TM)-PS a modification of their bearing isolator, a compound labyrinth, adapted to incorporate an air purge containment system.
As with all Inpro/Seal Bearing Isolators, the original Air Mizer(TM)-PS is a non-contact seal that avoids direct egress of the particulate material and assures the highest levels of performance. Its major innovation is the inclusion of a unique design feature that uses a solid wall of air that functions as a barrier for contamination and works to retain product where it should be - in the equipment, not outside of it.
THE SHAFT SEAL LINE EXPANDS
By 2004, an entire line product line of shaft seals started to evolve. Additional shaft seals included the Articulating Air Mizer(TM) and Smooth Bore. Both have the all of the advantages of the original, including the ability to handle extreme shaft misalignment and deflection, with the added capability to handle unlimited axial movement without placing any stress or strain on the equipment. Without any rotating parts, the shaft "floats" in the seal with zero contact and zero wear. The original went on to receive USDA approval.
CUSTOMER REQUEST LEADS TO A NEW PRODUCT
In 2007, Chuck Medinger, Inpro/Seal's regional manager in Wisconsin, had a request from a paper mill that wanted to use water instead of air on an agitator. The agitator that ran 24/7 was used to circulate, mix and dilute pulp slurry. Formerly, with packing as its only sealing method, it leaked, fretted the shaft and caused wear on the sleeves and shaft. The constant maintenance needed and resultant downtime was expensive. The people at the mill felt that water would work better than air with this application.
PROBLEM SOLVED
About the same time, the Company also was receiving many other customer requests for a non-contact shaft seal that used water to seal. To meet these requests, Inpro/Seal engineers developed the Water Mizer Shaft Seal. The Water Mizer has all of the features of the Air Mizer with one main difference - water is used to attain the seal. It's design includes a ½" waterline connection that attaches to a regulator to control the water pressure. A drain is located on the backside.
The shaft "floats" on a water barrier directly on the shaft, which provides unlimited axial movement without placing any stress or strain on the product. Without any moving parts, the seal attains zero contact, zero wear and zero frictional drag. In March 2008, the Water Mizer was installed on the agitator. According to Medinger, since then the agitator that broke down on a regular basis has yet to fail under harsh 24/7 operating conditions.
NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT ON THE MARKET
According to David C. Orlowski, President of Inpro/Seal and the holder of some 40 related patents, "Realizing the importance of what production continuity and what lost product can mean to the bottom line, we developed our shaft sealing product line, starting with the Air Mizer(TM)- PS, which is now USDA approved. As a shaft seal, this system has proven to help end users boost equipment reliability, reduce costs, extend sealing efficiencies and increase bottom line results, without equipment modification. With success as a foundation, we went on to expand our line."
Orlowski continued, "As time went on, more and more end users came to us with the similar needs. Aside from the problems they were having with contact seals, shaft deflection, run-out and misalignment was also causing seal faces to wear out and equipment to break down on a too rapid basis. Angular misalignment and mounting conditions, in particular, were hard to deal with. And in some cases, they needed an alternative to air purge. "
Orlowski concluded, "To solve their problems, our R&D people constantly look for ways to improve ways to deal with slurry type applications. This time, the result is our Water Mizer, a shaft sealing system with a water purge containment system that offers end users the latest in non-contacting technology. There is nothing else on the market like it. And certainly a contributing factor to the fact that we now manufacture almost 60,000 Inpro/Seals every month."
WATER MIZER, THE SHAFT SEAL WITH THE LATEST IN NON-CONTACT TECHNOLOGY
As with other products in the shaft sealing line, end users obtain the latest in non-contacting technology. All products work with shaft diameters of 1 " - 36" and accept severe radial and angular shaft run out up to 1/2 ". Once installed, problems associated with shaft deflection, run-out axial displacement and misalignment that cause other sealing methods to fail, become a thing of the past.
End users will be able to boost equipment reliability, reduce costs, extend sealing efficiencies and increase bottom line results, without equipment modifications. Additional benefits include: a reduction in lost product, the virtual elimination of unscheduled downtime and the ability to meet regulatory requirements. Plus, there is now the availability of air or water as the purge. Same day shipping is available.
TYPICAL APPLICATIONS, EASY TO INSTALL
Typical applications include: screw conveyors, mixers, blenders, rotary valves, feeders, gates, clinker grinders, bucket elevators, diverters, scales, bagging machines, dust collectors, discharges, classifiers, screens, extruders, separators, shredders, sifters, gate valves, metal detectors, pulverizers, crushers, coolers, aerators, mixers, agitators, transfer pumps, fillers and similar wet and dry powder and slurry processing equipment.
Inpro/Seal Shaft Seals are custom-engineered to suit individual applications and are easy to install. Split designs allow for installation directly on the shaft without the removal of couplings and end plates.
ABOUT INPRO/SEAL
Inpro/Seal Company is the originator and the world's number one manufacturer of bearing isolators, used to protect motor and pump bearings, machine tool spindles, turbines, fans, gear boxes, paper machine rolls and many other types of rotating equipment. Additional applications include the sealing, handling, processing, packing and storage of dry particulates, powders and bulk solids.
Of the 4,000,000+ bearing isolators delivered, almost all of them continue to be in operation in process plants worldwide, where end users continue to report significantly reduced operating costs with increased productivity and reliability. Protected bearings have run 150,000 hours (17 years) or more, eliminating the need for costly maintenance and repair. Documented cases show that a plant can more than double the mean-time-between failure (MTBF) and reduce maintenance costs by at least half, with users reporting an extremely high ROI.
SIGNOFF
For more information the Water Mizer(TM), Air Mizer(TM), Smooth Bore or other shaft seals, free literature that details why lips seals fail, or the name of the nearest trained distributor contact: Jason Putnam at: Inpro/Seal Company, P.O. Box 3940, Rock Island, Illinois 61204. Phone numbers are: (800) 447-0524 or (309) 787-4971. Fax number is: (309) 787-6114. Website: www.inpro-seal.com or www.bearingisolators.com
