US Patent 7500676 Sliding element

A primary objective of the present invention is to decrease the friction coefficient of the sliding face of a sliding element and to improve its seal performance. The sliding element disposes a plurality of elongate dimples in its first sliding face in which forward edges of the dimples relative to a rotational direction are inclined with respect to a tangential direction of a rotational circumference. The sliding element also disposes a second sliding face which has either a plane surface or second dimples and is located in the opposite side of the first sliding face relative to the process fluid.