Seal for a joint or juncture – Seal between relatively movable parts – Relatively rotatable radially extending sealing face member
Patent
1992-05-29
1994-04-12
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
Seal for a joint or juncture
Seal between relatively movable parts
Relatively rotatable radially extending sealing face member
277187, 174 77R, 385 83, 385 94, F16J 1504
Patent
active
053019598
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to sealing glands.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are many applications in which a flexible elongate element such as a line or conduit requires sealing at an interface between two environments between which there is a high pressure differential. The boundary may be constituted by a bulkhead at which the sealing must be performed. The element may, for example, be an optical fibre for monitoring conditions on one side of the boundary. Another example is a fine tube used for capillary sampling of material on one side of the boundary.
It is particularly important to provide highly reliable seals for such elements at interfaces in many different applications, for example the chemical and food processing and nuclear industries, in which the consequences of leakage of fluid past the seal can be severe.
Another field in which the reliability of seals is very important is that of undersea telecommunication elements, for example optical fibres, in which stretches of telecommunication cable are interrupted by repeaters at which the signal in the fibres is boosted. The seal between the fibre and the repeater housing must be designed to withstand the extreme pressures at considerable depths for a projected life time of 25 years or more.
Sealing glands are known for undersea optical communication fibres which comprise a metallised fibre soldered into a cylindrical body screwed into a bulkhead flange and also an electrode embedded in insulating ceramics also screwed into bulk head flange for power feed connections. In both cases the gland assembly comes as a unit with approximately 1 meter lengths of fibre sealed in place which are spliced to the fibres of the incoming cable, on one side, and to the receiving fibres inside the repeater housing, on the other.
In both cases, the gland comprises a tubular arrangement extending out of the housing in line with the cable. The radial thickness of the arrangement is considerable in comparison with the cable to be sealed in order for it to be strong enough to withstand the pressures at depth. It is also made long enough in order to provide sufficient sealing contact between the sealing material and both the cable and the housing. Both of these factors have to be taken into account when designing the housing and can necessitate a more bulky housing shape than would otherwise be the case.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a less bulky yet still reliable seal than known seals.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a versatile seal the components of which it is possible to vary to suit a particular application.
According to the present invention there is provided a gland seal for sealing a flexible elongate element passing through an aperture in a boundary, the seal comprising a set of sealing plates, each adjacent pair of plates defining at least one sealing channel between them, each plate having an aperture through which, in use, the line to be sealed extends into the associated sealing channel, the line being sealingly engaged in the channel to inhibit the passage of fluid therethrough.
The seal provided by the assemblage of plates can be applied to existing elements without the need for it to be formed as a sealed unit and attached, i.e. spliced, to the ends of elements an either side of the boundary.
The channels defined between the assemblage of plates may be packed out with different sealants according to the application in which the gland is used. Furthermore, different sealants can be used between adjacent plates in the same gland in order to address differing sealing requirements on either side of the seal.
Alternatively, the plates may be resilient and sealingly engage the line to define the sealing channel.
The channels defined in the plates are preferably disposed substantially normally to the path of the line passing through the boundary to which the seal is attached. In this case, the assembly is also particularly compact.
The present invention can be put into
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British Telecommunications public limited company
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Cummings Scott W.
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