Hermetic metal seals for Stirling engines
Dynamic seals continue to be one of the major technical problems facing Stirling engine designers. Much effort has been expended to develop the quasi-hermetic rolling diaphragm or rollsock seal, but unpredictable lifetime has resulted in general disuse of this once promising seal. Most modern engines use some version of the Leningrader sliding seal for rod seals and a dry ring seal for piston and/or displacer seals. Reliable long-life seals remain an elusive goal. This paper documents the successful hardware implementation of metal bellows and diaphragm seals in two long-life Stirling engine applications with test data to >10/sup 10/ cycles and discusses bellows seal concepts which can provide reliable and efficient longlife seals for virtually any Stirling engine application.
- Research Organization:
- University of Washington, Joint Center for Graduate Study, Richland, Washington
- OSTI ID:
- 5918618
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-840804-
- Journal Information:
- Proc., Intersoc. Energy Convers. Eng. Conf.; (United States), Vol. 3; Conference: Intersociety energy conversion engineering conference, San Francisco, CA, USA, 19 Aug 1984
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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