A Method of Evaluating Misalignments in Rotary Seals Using Ultrasonic Rayleigh Waves
The work presented here deals with the development of a novel
lip-seal condition monitoring technique. Rayleigh waves, which travels only on
the surface of a material are generated and sent axially towards the sealing
zone using an ultrasound transducer. The sealing zone reflects some of the
incident waves. Based on quantities such as the location and amplitude of the
reflected pulse, it is possible to characterise anomalies that arises during
operation of the seal. The work presented here focuses on evaluating
misalignments due to cocking of lip seals.