Seal runner and method
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorBruno Martin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A seal runner assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a non-rotational annular wear seal, and an annular seal runner having an annular body defining an annular front face contacting the wear seal, the annular body defining an aperture extending axially through the seal runner, the aperture configured for receiving therein a part of a shaft of the gas turbine engine, the seal runner having a plurality of axially-extending slots at locations that are distributed around a wall of the seal runner that extends circumferentially about at least a portion of the annular front face and extends from the front face in a direction away from the wear seal. A method for sealing a gap between a part of a machine and a rotatable shaft of the machine is also provided.
Claims20
A seal runner assembly for a gas turbine engine, comprising:
- a non-rotational annular wear seal;
- and
- an annular seal runner having an annular body defining an annular front face contacting the wear seal, the annular body defining an aperture extending axially through the seal runner, the aperture configured for receiving therein a part of a shaft of the gas turbine engine, the seal runner having a plurality of axially-extending slots at locations that are distributed around a wall of the seal runner, the wall extending circumferentially about at least a portion of the annular front face and extending from the front face in a direction away from the wear seal, the seal runner having a circumferential slot extending through the wall and disposed between an adjacent pair of the axially-extending slots.
A machine, comprising:
- a shaft rotatable about a rotation axis relative to a part of the machine;
- a non-rotational annular wear seal;
- and
- an annular seal runner having an annular body defining an annular front face contacting the wear seal, the annular body defining an aperture extending axially through the seal runner, the aperture receiving the shaft therein, the seal runner defining therein a plurality of axially-extending slots at locations that are distributed around a circumference of the seal runner, the axially-extending slots matingly receiving respective parts of the shaft therein.
A method for sealing a gap between a part of a machine and a rotatable shaft of the machine, comprising:
- rotating the shaft;
- contacting a front annular face of a seal runner against a wear seal to seal the gap;
- and
- spreading a load on the seal runner from the shaft via annular segments of the seal runner extending at least in part around the shaft and separated by axially-oriented slots, the annular segments having a circumferential slot extending through the annular segments and disposed between an adjacent pair of the axially-oriented slots.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.