Development of an Improved Heavy Duty Dirt Exclusion System for Radial Lip Seals

Heavy duty engine and driveline radial lip seals have numerous applications where severe environmental conditions are known to exist. The most severe conditions are associated with construction, mining, agricultural, military and industrial applications. Under these severe conditions, traditional elastomeric and PTFE dust lips are not capable of providing adequate protection for the oil seal. A new heavy duty excluder sealing system for radial lip seals has been designed and developed as a solution to premature failure due to extreme environmental contamination. Laboratory test equipment, test procedures, and comparative test results, including bench tests and field evaluation are presented as well as some of the design variations required due to various installation schemes.