Pipe joints or couplings – With fluid pressure seal – Flexible lip
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-15
2001-01-30
Arola, Dave W. (Department: 3627)
Pipe joints or couplings
With fluid pressure seal
Flexible lip
C285S231000, C285S298000, C285S369000, C285S345000, C285S906000, C285S910000, C277S618000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179339
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to sealing rings and, more specifically, to sealing rings used in the flexible joinder of end portions of two opposed gas conduits for permitting gas flow therebetween during angular misalignment movement or offset, axial translation, axial rotation, and vibration of the conduits with a minimum of gas leakage.
Flexible coupling devices which employ sealing rings for joining gas or air conduits together in an effectively air tight or gas tight manner while permitting the previously mentioned types of movement of the adjoined conduits have, broadly speaking, long been known and used in the prior art. See, for example, the flexible couplings or sleeves and various sealing ring combinations used therewith as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,129 granted to L. A. Camacho et al. on Apr. 21, 1992. Another type of prior art coupling or sleeve (not including the rings shown therewith) for joining high pressure/high temperature air conduits together as used in the commercial air craft industry is shown at
12
in
FIG. 1
of the accompanying drawings.
In commercial aircraft the sealing ring assemblies used in the ring housings of flexible coupling sleeves or in ring channels disposed between opposed, concentrically overlapping end portions of gas conduits of different diameters typically operate at air pressures from 40 to 70 psig at temperatures from ambient up to 350 to 500° F. Silicone seal rings have typically been used for this purpose in the prior art. While such prior art seal rings have good flexibility when originally installed and operated at low temperatures of from ambient up to about 200° F., they have a tendency to crack, become cracked and brittle and developed burned spots or areas when subjected to the typical high operating temperature range encountered in gas ducting or conduct systems of commercial jet engines. As a result, they actually suffer a loss of ring material, as through vaporization and become deformed so as to lose certain of their design dimensional characteristics. They also become set so that they can no longer adjust to relative movements of between two gas conduits being sealed by the rings in the sleeve housing or ring channel such that gas leakages occur past the rings.
Other materials, such as polytetrafluoroethylene and certain types of plastics do not encounter these problems in the 350 to 500° F. operating temperature range as does silicone. However, these latter materials are ordinarily not sufficiently flexible to adjust well at low temperatures to vibratory and other movements between adjoined conduits and therefore have not previously been found to be useful as sealing rings in aircraft engine gas or air ducting systems.
By means of my invention, I have developed a sealing ring which can be made of such polytetrafluoroethylene and plastic material which has none of the problems encountered with silicone rings in the 350 to 500° F. operating temperature range, yet is sufficiently flexible at all temperatures from ambient up to and through this typical high temperature range to provide excellent sealing characteristics for adjoined gas conduits which are subject to various vibratory and other movements relative to one another.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of my invention to provide one or more seal rings for sealing a sleeve of a flexible coupling to opposed, spaced apart, open end portions of a pair of air or gas conduits in an effectively gas tight manner while allowing for dents and manufacturing irregularities in ring housing portions of the sleeve.
It is another object of my invention to provide one or more seal rings for sealing together in an effectively gas tight manner concentrically interposed or overlapping open end portions of a pair of opposed air of gas conduits of different diameters.
It is a further object of my invention to provide a seal ring assembly for adjoined gas conduits which has excellent flexibility and sealing characteristics in a 40 to 70 psig pressure range at temperatures from ambient up to an operating temperature range of from 350 to 500° F. without encountering ring deterioration ordinarily encountered using prior art silicone seal rings at such operating temperatures.
In accordance with these objects I provide a seal ring which includes an annulus of flexible, resilient material having a generally U-shaped radial cross-section. A pair of legs of the cross-section form axially spaced apart, annularly extending side walls and, together with an annularly extending base portion of the cross-section, forms an endless, annularly extending central groove. A pair of annularly extending axially spaced apart slots are formed in the base portion next to opposing surfaces of the side walls, which slots open into the groove. A spring member is disposed in the groove for urging an edge of the annulus which faces in a radial direction away from the groove to seal against an opposing, conforming, annually extending surface against which the edge is operatively placed.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and attached drawings upon which, by way of example, only a preferred and one other important embodiment of my invention are described and illustrated.
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