Brush Seal Product Features

Brush seals are typically employed to seal gaseous media between moving and stationary components; they also demonstrate highly effective performance in sealing against liquids or dust. The bristles of a brush seal are arranged in a regular pattern at a specific angle relative to the shaft's direction of rotation. This configuration serves to minimize bristle wear, facilitates the bristles' ability to accommodate rotor manufacturing tolerances and thermal deformations, and enables them to spring back rapidly following sudden, significant radial rotor displacements, thereby maintaining a constant sealing clearance. The surface of the shaft in contact with the free ends of the bristles is typically coated with a wear-resistant material to prevent the bristles from scratching the shaft journal during operation, while simultaneously reducing frictional losses within the bristles.

The bristles used in brush seals are primarily fabricated from cobalt-based high-temperature alloys, which possess low brittleness and high toughness, thereby ensuring that the bristles do not fracture during operation. Furthermore, a high-performance welding process guarantees that the bristles remain securely attached, while optimized bristle bundle thickness and height ensure superior sealing effectiveness; the judicious combination of bristle and coating materials ensures the stable and safe operation of the seal. Brush seals represent an ideal alternative to traditional labyrinth seals; they are adaptive, contact-type seals capable of completely or partially eliminating the parasitic leakage inherent in labyrinth seals. Moreover, they allow the rotor to operate effectively even in the presence of certain deviations, functioning as a flexible seal capable of achieving zero clearance.