Seal assemblies and related methods
AssigneeBal Seal Engineering, Inc.
InventorsLluis Soler, Derek Changsrivong, Peter J Balsells, Stephen Rust, Mike Foster, Tony Quach
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Spring energized seal assemblies each with one or two sealing elements and a canted coil spring located in a spring cavity of the sealing element or of the two sealing elements to bias an inner flange and an outer flange of the respective spring cavity away from one another. The canted coil springs can have un-conventional coil shapes with one or more straight coil segments and/or with curved connecting ends. The coils can have dimples to provide multiple biasing points. The coils can have loops. The canted coil springs with un-conventional coil shapes can be used to improve spring loading on a sealing element.
Claims21
A spring energized seal assembly comprising:
- a sealing member having a seal body with an annular opening, an inside flange defining the annular opening, an outside flange, a center channel section located between the inside flange and the outside flange, and a spring cavity defined by the inside flange, the outside flange, and the center channel section;
- a canted coil spring located in the spring cavity of the seal body, said canted coil spring comprising plurality of coils, at least two coils of the plurality of coils each comprising a coil width, at least one straight segment having a straight section that is at least 25% of the coil width, and wherein the at least one straight segment contacts the inside flange or the outside flange of the seal body to form a line contact with the seal body;
- and
- wherein each of the at least two coils comprises a curved connecting end connecting two adjacent straight segments and wherein the curved connecting ends of the at least two coils contact a surface of the other one of the inside flange or the outside flange opposite the at least one straight segment at a location spaced from the center channel section.
A spring energized seal assembly comprising:
- a sealing member having a seal body with an annular opening, an inside flange defining the annular opening, an outside flange, a center channel section located between the inside flange and the outside flange, and a spring cavity defined by the inside flange, the outside flange, and the center channel section;
- a canted coil spring located in the spring cavity of the seal body, said canted coil spring comprising plurality of coils, at least two coils of the plurality of coils each comprising two or more straight segments, and wherein at least one of the straight segments contacts the inside flange or the outside flange of the seal body to form a line contact with the seal body;
- and
- wherein the inside flange comprises a flange surface or the outside flange comprises a flange surface, and wherein the flange surface is generally planar with a length and a notch recessed from the generally planar flange surface at a location between two ends of the generally planar flange surface.
A spring energized seal assembly comprising:
- a sealing member having a seal body with an annular opening, an inside flange defining the annular opening, an outside flange, a center channel section located between the inside flange and the outside flange, and a spring cavity defined by the inside flange, the outside flange, and the center channel section;
- a canted coil spring located in the spring cavity of the seal body, said canted coil spring comprising plurality of coils, at least two coils of the plurality of coils each comprising few-two or more straight segments;
- for each of the at least two coils, a curved connecting end connects two adjacent straight segments of the two or more straight segments;
- wherein the inside flange comprises a flange surface or the outside flange comprises a flange surface;
- and
- wherein the two curved connecting ends of the at least two coils are in contact with the notch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.