Development of a Low-Friction Radial Shaft Seal: Using CFD Simulations to Optimise the Microstructured Sealing Lip

The sealing of shaft interfaces in machine housings against oil leakage is commonly realized by radial shaft seals, hence they are used millions of times in technical systems. However, with increasing speed they cause significant friction losses, which reduce the efficiency of the system significantly. In addition, the prevailing trend towards higher speed levels in electrified drive trains is already pushing sealing technology to its performance limits. Therefore, friction reduction offers a chance to extend the current performance limits and increase efficiency within existing applications. In this paper, a methodology for friction reduction is proposed, which is based on microstructuring and surface treatment of the seal sliding surface. Since experimental structural design is linked to high costs and time, a simulation-based method is proposed. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are performed to analyze the influence of the structural geometry on local fluid flow. It is shown that for increasing sliding speeds, the analysis and the subsequent optimization of deterministic microstructures require the numerical solution of the complete Navier–Stokes equation in order to take inertial effects into account. Based on these results, an optimal geometric shape for the microstructure is found depending on the operating conditions.