Brush seals
AssigneeCross Manufacturing Company (1938) Limited
InventorRalph F. J. Flower
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A brush seal assembly for use in a gas turbine, jet engine or the like where a shaft which rotates at very high rates is to be sealed to a housing. The seal assembly has a plurality of brush seal elements each of which comprises a generally arcuate carrier and a plurality of bristles projecting therefrom. All of the brush seal elements are supported in the engine housing in a substantially continuous end-to-end manner with the bristles of the seal elements arranged to form a substantially continuous brush seal wiping against the shaft.
Claims12
A brush seal assembly for effecting a seal between a fixed housing of a gas turbine engine and a shaft rotatable with respect to the housing, which brush seal assembly comprises an annular seal member assembled from a plurality of separate interfitting arcuate brush seal portions, each said brush seal portion having an arcuate carrier and a plurality of seal bristles carried by said carrier for effecting a seal against the shaft, and mounting means provided on said housing and adapted to hold the carriers of all said plurality of arcuate seal portions such that the seal portions are disposed in a continuous end-to-end relationship defining said annular seal member with said bristles of each said seal portion arranged to form a substantially continuous brush seal, said carriers having end-plates formed to coact with the ends of adjacent arcuate base plates so that the bristles juxtapose to the ends of adjacent carriers to form a substantially continuous brush seal.
A composite brush seal assembly for effecting a seal between a fixed housing of a gas turbine engine and a shaft rotatable with respect to the housing, which composite brush seal assembly comprises a plurality of annular separate interfitting arcuate brush seal portions, each said brush seal portion having a carrier and a plurality of seal bristles carried by said carrier for effecting a seal against the shaft, and mounting means provided on said housing which mounting means is adapted to hold the carriers of all said plurality of seal portions in two series arranged axially side-by-side, the seal portions of each series being disposed in a continuous end-to-end relationship with said bristles of each said seal portion in said series arranged to form a substantially continuous brush seal, said carriers having end-plates formed to coact with the ends of adjacent arcuate carriers so that the bristles juxtaposed to the ends of adjacent carriers form a substantially continuous brush seal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.