Canted coil springs and assemblies and related methods
AssigneeBal Seal Engineering, Inc.
InventorsPeter J. Balsells, Jin Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Canted coil spring rings each with a first plurality of coils having first coil major and minor axes; a second plurality of coils each having second coil major and minor axes; the coils of the first plurality of coils alternating with the coils of the second plurality of coils according to an alternating pattern. The spring rings having inner and outer perimeters and wherein the inner perimeter of the spring ring is defined by at least said first plurality of coils. The resulting configuration of the spring ring has improved spacing along the inner perimeter, among others, with respect to a similar canted coil spring ring having a constant coil cross section, such as a coil length with all similar coils.
Claims26
A canted coil spring ring comprising:
- a plurality of interconnected coils having two ends that are welded together to define the spring ring;
- the plurality of interconnected coils comprising a first plurality of coils and a second plurality of coils;
- said first plurality of coils each having a first coil major axis, a first coil minor axis and a coil center defined by the intersection of said first coil major and minor axes;
- a first centerline defined by the plurality of coil centers resulting from said first plurality of coils, and each coil of said first plurality of coils canted along said first centerline;
- said second plurality of coils each having a second coil major axis, a second coil minor axis and a coil center defined by the intersection of said second coil major and minor axes;
- a second centerline defined by the plurality of coil centers resulting from said second plurality of coils, and each coil of said second plurality of coils canted along said second centerline;
- wherein the coils of said first plurality of coils alternate with the coils of said second plurality of coils according to an alternating pattern;
- wherein the spring ring comprises an outer perimeter and an inner perimeter, wherein said inner perimeter is defined by said first plurality of coils only and said outer perimeter is defined by said first plurality of coils only or by both of said first and second plurality of coils;
- and
- wherein said spring ring has a minimum reachable inner perimeter, which is defined as a minimum value that can be reached without the first plurality of coils having butted, that is smaller than a minimum reachable inner perimeter of a canted coil spring with a constant coil cross section having a similar total number of coils, spring length, and coil major axis and coil minor axis that are similar to those of said first plurality of coils.
A method of forming a canted coil spring ring, said method comprising the steps:
- forming a spring length having a plurality of coils and two ends, wherein said forming of the spring length comprises:
- forming a first plurality of coils with each coil having a first coil major axis, a first coil minor axis and a coil center defined by the intersection of said first coil major and minor axes;
- a first centerline defined by the plurality of coil centers resulting from said first plurality of coils, and each coil of said first plurality of coils canted along said first centerline;
- forming a second plurality of coils with each coil having a second coil major axis, a second coil minor axis and a coil center defined by the intersection of said second coil major and minor axes;
- a second centerline defined by the plurality of coil centers resulting from said second plurality of coils, and each coil of said second plurality of coils canted along said second centerline;
- joining the two ends to form a spring ring;
- and
- wherein the coils of said first plurality of coils alternate with the coils of said second plurality of coils according to an alternating pattern;
- wherein the spring ring comprises an outer perimeter and an inner perimeter, wherein said inner perimeter is defined by said first plurality of coils only and said outer perimeter is defined by said first plurality of coils only or by both of said first and second plurality of coils;
- and
- wherein said spring ring has a minimum reachable inner perimeter, which is defined as a minimum value that can be reached without the first plurality of coils having butted, that is smaller than a minimum reachable inner perimeter of a canted coil spring with a constant coil cross section having a similar total number of coils, spring length, and coil major axis and coil minor axis that are similar to those of said first plurality of coils.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.