Ocean Venture Seals Develops Eco-Seal

Ocean Venture Seals (OVS)has developed the Eco-Seal - a revolutionary new design in propeller shaft sealing technology. The environmentally friendly Eco-Seal is a major advance in propeller shaft sealing technology because its design means there is no oil leakage to the environment from the propeller shaft and no contamination of the sterntube oil by sea water. Any small leakages of oil or water are contained in the Eco-Seal's casing and drained inboard, with any leaked fluids being handled as bilge water. Colin Drew, OVS sales and marketing director, says: "As well as providing commercial and environmental gains for shipowners, the Eco-Seal's green design puts to rest the image of vessels polluting the environment with a thin line of oil following the ship everywhere it sails. With the spotlight of ever tightening environmental legislation regularly being aimed at shipping, shipowners are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of keeping legislators on-side." The second major advantage of the Eco-Seal is that it has fully split construction which allows all repair and maintenance activities to be carried out with the propeller and propeller shaft remaining in place. In many cases the seal can be repaired underwater. This eliminates the need for any towing and drydocking expenses, which are always a large proportion of any repair bill. It also means that the vessel can be repaired much faster - 'on site' in the water. The seal has an extremely high resistance to damage and failure due to ingress of foreign material and the design of the seal also allows large axial movements of the propeller shaft due to thermal expansion without any alteration in sealing face pressure. This enables the optimum balance between sealing function and low wear rates. Drew adds: "Low installation costs, low rates of wear and minimal repair and maintenance costs make the Eco-Seal extremely attractive from a commercial point of view." The Eco-Seal can be adapted to fit onto almost any type of ship - ranging in size from ULCC to offshore support vessel.