Spring wire ends to faciliate welding
AssigneeBal Seal Engineering, Inc.
InventorsRichard Dawson, Tobias Schelbert
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Spring rings and closed wire loops each can have two ends that are connected. The connected ends can be welded. The connected ends can be aligned for welding by incorporating complementary surfaces so that when joined, the tip at the first end mate to the tip at the second end. The mating can be self-aligning spatially and radially. The spring rings and the closed wire loops can be used in many applications, including in connector applications and seal applications.
Claims14
A metallic spring ring comprising:
- a spring length having a spring body with a plurality of interconnected coils or interconnected V-bodies and a first end connected to a second end to form a closed loop, said second end being on an end of the spring body opposite the first end;
- wherein the first end comprises a first tip and the second end comprises a second tip, and
- wherein the first tip and the second tip have complementary surfaces for aligning the two ends along a first direction and along at least one radial direction relative to the first direction.
A connector assembly comprising:
- a housing having a bore;
- a pin located inside the bore of the housing;
- at least one groove formed with the housing inside the bore or on an exterior of the pin;
- a spring ring located in the at least one groove;
- wherein the spring ring comprising:
- a spring length having a spring body with a plurality of interconnected coils or interconnected V-bodies and a first end connected to a second end to form a closed loop, said second end being on an end of the spring body opposite the first end;
- wherein the first end comprises a first tip and the second end comprises a second tip, and
- wherein the first tip and the second tip have complementary surfaces for aligning the two ends along a first direction and along at least one radial direction relative to the first direction.
The connector assembly of claim 11, further comprising a second groove, and wherein the spring ring is captured between the at least one groove and the second groove.
The connector assembly of claim 12, wherein the spring ring is a radial canted coil spring or an axial canted coil spring.
A seal assembly comprising:
- a seal element having an inside flange defining a bore, an outside flange defining an outside diameter of the seal element, and a center channel section, said inside and outside flanges and said center channel section defining a spring groove;
- and
- a spring ring located in the spring groove, said spring ring comprising:
- a spring length having a spring body with a plurality of interconnected coils or interconnected V-bodies and a first end connected to a second end to form a closed loop, said second end being on an end of the spring body opposite the first end;
- wherein the first end comprises a first tip and the second end comprises a second tip, and
- wherein the first tip and the second tip have complementary surfaces for aligning the two ends along a first direction and along at least one radial direction relative to the first direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.