Seal
AssigneeRedseal Limited
InventorMartin McKenzie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A device to provide a seal between a housing for a moving element such as a drill chain, piston or the like and the moving element. The device comprising a storage well to retain seal material, the block having an outlet connecting with an aperture in a housing enabling seal material to flow into the space between a housing and the moving element and form a seal, the device further including an inlet port enabling seal material precursor to be added into the block, and pressurising means to pressurise the seal material precursor and force it out of the aperture.
Claims20
A device to provide a seal between a housing for a moving element and the moving element, the device comprising:
- a storage well;
- a solid seal material in the storage well extending through an opening of the storage well and into contact with the moving element at a seal interface in use;
- pressurising means configured to pressurize the solid seal material in the storage well and force the solid seal material out of the opening and into contact with the moving element to form a seal in use;
- and
- an inlet port to the storage well, the inlet port configured to enable a flowable seal material precursor to be introduced into the storage well between the pressurizing means and the solid seal material.
A method of replenishing a seal between a housing for a moving element and the moving element, the method comprising:
- providing a seal forming device, the device including a housing enclosing a portion of the moving element with which a seal is to be made with the housing, wherein the device comprises:
- a storage well to retain a seal material, the storage well having an opening to a surface of the moving element;
- a solid seal material in the storage well, the solid seal material extending through the opening of the storage well and into contact with the moving element at a seal interface;
- pressurizing means;
- and
- an inlet port to the storage well;
- introducing a flowable seal material precursor into the storage well through the inlet port;
- and
- setting the flowable seal material precursor into a solid in the storage well to replenish the solid seal material.
A device to provide a seal between a housing for a moving element and the moving element, the device comprising:
- a storage well to retain a seal material, the storage well having an aperture in a housing connecting the storage well with an external surface of the moving element and enabling the seal material to pass into a space between a housing and the moving element;
- and
- pressurising means to pressurise the seal material and force the seal material out of the aperture and into contact with the moving element to form a seal,
- wherein the seal material comprises a solid resilient seal material, wherein the device is configured to enable additional seal material to be introduced into the storage well between the pressurising means and the solid resilient seal material to replenish the solid resilient seal material, and
- wherein the pressurising means is configured to pressurise the additional seal material against the solid resilient seal material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.