Annular cantilever beam spring and pre-loaded assembly

A pre-loaded assembly, comprising:

• first and second mating parts positioned along an axis;
• and
• an annular cantilever beam spring positioned about the axis in-line with and internal or external to the first and second mating parts,
• a pre-load mechanism configured to apply opposing axial loads to the first and second mating parts and spring to compress the spring and apply a preload within a specified operating range of the assembly,
• wherein the annular cantilever beam spring comprises:
• a flat annular beam sized to match either the first and second mating parts, said flat annular beam having top and bottom surfaces about the axis;
• a first set of N protrusions where N is an integer of 3 or more extending from and evenly spaced at 360/N degree intervals about the top surface of the flat annular beam to engage an axial facing surface of the first mating part;
• and
• a second set of N stand-offs extending from and evenly spaced at 360/N degree intervals about the bottom surface of the flat annular beam to engage an axial facing surface of the second mating part or the pre-load mechanism,
• wherein first and second sets of stand-offs are angularly offset from each other by 360/2N degrees such that each said stand-off is evenly spaced between adjacent pairs of stand-offs on the opposing surface,
• said first and second sets of stand-offs responsive to the opposing axial loads to deflect the flat annular beam axially at each stand-off in opposing directions to induce a curvature to the annular beam and store energy in the beam to preload the assembly.

A method of preloading an assembly, said assembly including first and second mating parts positioned along an axis, said method comprising:

• providing an annular cantilever beam spring that includes a flat annular beam, first and second sets of N stand-offs where N is an integer of 3 or more extending from and evenly spaced at 360/N degree intervals top and bottom surfaces of the beam, in which the first and second sets of stand-offs are angularly offset from each other by 360/2N degrees such that each said stand-off is evenly spaced between adjacent pairs of stand-offs on the opposing surface,
• placing the spring about the axis and in-line with and internal or external to the first and second mating parts;
• and
• applying opposing axial loads to the assembly and to the first and second sets of stand-offs to deflect the flat annular beam axially at each stand-off in opposing directions to induce a curvature to the annular beam and store energy in the beam to pre-load the assembly.