Several seals, designed to minimize leakage between the rotating spool assembly's endplates and the stationary compressor housing, are introduced, constructed and tested. Some designs are deemed impractical due to either high leakage or high torque. A novel one piece hybrid design that blends the function of a face seal and piston ring is tested and shown to achieve excellent results. A test apparatus is introduced to isolate and measure the spool seal's performance independent of the compressor. It is concluded that the hybrid design is highly effective and well suited for many applications of the spool compressor.
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