When rotary shaft seals leak, they drain more than product. They hemorrhage profits. This leakage is what happened to a major Wisconsin cookie and cracker manufacturer to the tune of $150,000. Fortunately, the manufacturer discovered CinchSeal’s 9700 series split rotary shaft seals.
The Dough-Saving Solution
The leakage problem occurred in the manufacturer’s tilt-bowl dough mixer. Their bakery mixer was not only leaking product but was also:
- Creating sanitary problems
- Presenting safety hazards for workers
- Causing shaft damage through the use of lip seals
- Increasing costs because of scored shafts
- Slowing productivity with unscheduled maintenance
Use of rotary shaft seals in the CinchSeal 9700 series yielded impressive results:
- Improved employee safety and housekeeping
- Eliminated shaft wear
- Stopped product loss
- Prevented unscheduled maintenance downtime
- Enabled faster, more efficient cleaning to meet sanitation requirements
- And, of course, saved $150,000.
Why CinchSeal Split Rotary Shaft Seals Work When Other Seals Don’t
The cookie and cracker manufacturer used lip seals to stop leakage on its tilt-bowl dough mixer, just as manufacturers in a number of industries do on their equipment. The question is: why choose a 9700 series seal instead?
It’s true that lip seals are quite affordable upfront and don’t cost a lot to replace. However, they have to be replaced fairly often. CinchSeal rotary shaft seals have a long operating life with minimal maintenance, and their split construction makes them easy to maintain and replace when it becomes necessary. In the long run, CinchSeal seals prove to be a better value.
Lip seals and 9700 series rotary shaft seals have significant differences that have to do with how they work as well. For example, lip seals feature a lubricant layer between the seal’s lip and the turning shaft. As it turns, the shaft creates a pump action that maintains the seal. The lip seal “grabs” the shaft and remains stationary, and the shaft rubs against it. Even with the lubricant, this creates friction and eventually causes shaft damage.
On the other hand, CinchSeal bakery seals offer an innovative design that includes an elastomer that spins with the shaft, eliminating shaft damage. This action also drives two PTFE rotor cups that are compressed with optimum load against stationary faces to seal potential leak paths.
More reasons to choose CinchSeal 9700 series seals
Lip seals have other drawbacks, such as:
• They don’t work well with a high internal pressure
• A tendency to wear out fairly quickly, especially under harsh conditions, so they lose much of the benefit of their initial low cost and low replacement cost.
In addition to the advantages mentioned earlier, CinchSeal 9700 series rotary shaft seals offer:
- A seal interface with a significantly larger than a shaft interface. which greatly reduces the potential for leakage
- Air, nitrogen or silicone grease purging that:
- Creates pressure, pushing the rotor against the stator, shutting down the interface to prevent material migration into and out of processing equipment
- Establishes a barrier that stops product from entering the seal
- Reduces heat created by friction and keeps the seal faces cool, resulting in a longer seal life
- Rotor cups that are boot-mounted to let the rotary assembly float with the shaft with the ¼” misalignment that commonly occurs with bulk-handling equipment
- Fast and easy cleaning without the need to disassemble the whole equipment and self-lubrication, allowing dry operation
- USDA certification in poultry and dairy, making the seals ideal for use in virtually all food-processing applications
Sealing the argument for CinchSeal rotary shaft seals
The reasons for bakery companies to opt for CinchSeal 9700 series 304 stainless steel rotary shaft seals can be boiled down to three points:
- They save time and money by eliminating product loss, shaft damage, bearing failure, and unscheduled maintenance.
- Their split design makes them easy to install and maintain, and they can be made like new with an economical kit that simply replaces the rotor cups and elastomer.
- They are constructed of highly durable, easily maintained 316 stainless steel and are USDA-certified.
Food Processing Seals from CinchSeal
Since 1994, CinchSeal has been a major manufacturer of rotary shaft seals for screw conveyors, ribbon blenders and industrial bakery processing and blending equipment. CinchSeal products serve as replacements and major upgrades that make the need for machine replacement less likely.
More information on all of our types of seals is available by contacting CinchSeal. Quotes and drawings are guaranteed to be available in 24 hours. Custom engineering usually takes 10 days.
