Tribological behavior characterization, fault detection and health evaluation of mechanical seals based on face vibration acceleration measurement

Abstract

Abstract Aiming at the performance degradation caused by the wear of the face of the contacting mechanical seal during operation, and the lack of effective monitoring methods and evaluation indicators for predictive maintenance, a mechanical seal test rig was built. The vibration and closing force signals of the seal face were collected. The relationship between the closing force with the phase change law and the performance degradation of the face was clarified. The vibration characteristic parameters of the face were studied and the vibration sensitive characteristics of the time domain, frequency domain and time-frequency domain were screened. The incipient fault detection method and degradation assessment method of mechanical seals were studied. The results show that the circumferential variation of the closing force can characterize the performance degradation degree of the mechanical seal. With the increase of the face wear, the maximum face closing force changes from regular to random with the phase. The mean value, fuzzy entropy, and permutation entropy of the vibration signal of the seal face can characterize the degree of performance degradation of the mechanical seal. The incipient fault time of the mechanical seal can be identified by the incipient fault detection model. The health status of the mechanical seal can be clearly divided by the performance degradation assessment model, which provides a basis for predictive maintenance of the mechanical seal.