Characterization of Acoustic Emissions from Mechanical Seals for Fault Detection

The application of high-frequency Acoustic Emissions (AE) for mechanical seals diagnosis is gaining acceptance as a useful complimentary tool. This paper investigates the AE characteristics of mechanical seals under different rotational speed and fluid pressure (load) for develop a more comprehensive monitoring method. A theoretical relationship between friction in asperity contact and energy of AE signals is developed in present work. This model demonstrates a clear correlation between AE Root Mean Square (RMS) value and sliding speed, contact load and number of contact asperities. To benchmark the proposed model, a mechanical seal test rig was employed for collecting AE signals under different operating conditions. Then, the collected data was processed using time domain and frequency domain analysis methods to suppressing noise interferences from mechanical system for extracting reliably the AE signals from mechanical seals. The results reveal the potential of AE technology and data analysis method applied in this work for monitoring the contact condition of mechanical seals, which will be vital for developing a comprehensive monitoring systems and supporting the optimal design and operation of mechanical seals.