Labyrinth Seals

Custom-Engineered for Efficiency

Labyrinth seals are a critical component applied across rotating equipment to seal high pressure areas from low pressure areas and prevent contamination of the process. Designed as a non-contacting seal with a precise clearance over the rotor, labyrinth seals directly affect equipment efficiency.

As with all Bearings Plus solutions, our labyrinth seals are custom-engineered for each application. Design factors include seal arrangement, operating temperatures, pressures, speed, process make-up, and thermal expansion, among others.

Reduce Clearances with Thermoplastics

To improve efficiency, particularly in multi-stage centrifugal compressors, Bearings Plus applies thermoplastic labyrinth seal solutions. The abradable nature of thermoplastics allows a labyrinth seal to be designed to a tighter clearance than a metallic labyrinth seal would be.

If a metallic labyrinth seal were to experience a transient rub during machine start-up, or a hard rub during operation, the teeth of the seal could cause expensive damage to the rotor through wear or galling. A large clearance is therefore designed to avoid shaft contact.

The thermoplastic labyrinth seal can experience rubs without causing rotor damage, as it is both abradable and has anti-galling properties. Smaller clearances can be designed with the thermoplastic material, reducing leakage and improving machine efficiency.

Thermoplastic labyrinth seals can be applied at the impeller eye, interstage and/or balance piston locations.

Thermoplastic Laby Seal Advantages

Tighter seal clearances
Reduced leakage
Improved efficiency
Option of straight or slanted teeth
Corrosion resistance for operation in a variety of fluids

Thermoplastic Material Options

Torlon® polyamide-imide*
Fluorosint® enhanced PTFE^†
PEEK

*Torlon® is a product and registered trademark of Solvay.
^†Fluorosint® is a product and registered trademark of the Quadrant Group.

Typical Applications

Land-based gas turbines
Utility steam turbines
Centrifugal compressors
Turbo-expanders

Downloads

Labyrinth Seal Information Sheet

Related Products

Augmented Labyrinth Seals

Labyrinth seals augmented with Bearings Plus brush seals can reduce sealing clearances to reduce leakage and improve machine efficiency.

Pocketed Damper Seal

The pocketed damper seal prevents gas swirl and provides 50 to 100 times more damping than a conventional labyrinth seal.