Patents Examined by Gilbert Lee
  • Patent number: 9618123
    Abstract: A seal comprising a generally acorn shaped cross-sectional profile is described herein. The seal may be configured for use between two generally adjoining and/or nearly adjoining surfaces. The seal may be used to eliminate a gap or rubbing between a plurality of surfaces. The seal may have a non-circular cross-sectional interior profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: ROHR, INC.
    Inventors: Michael Sean Pretty, Joshua Elam
  • Patent number: 9618119
    Abstract: A sealing element, e.g., a sealing ring, is adapted to seal between two component sections and to be compressed by the two component sections in a groove that is provided in one of the two component sections and having a groove opening and a groove bottom. The sealing element comprises a profile which, in the non-compressed state, comprises different profile heights and at least two outer surfaces. The profile is deformable in the compressed state such that it extends with at least one of its side sections into the groove opening (NĂ–) and thereby possibly partially closes the groove opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Durr Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Herbert Martin, Michael Baumann, Thomas Buck
  • Patent number: 9611938
    Abstract: Even when a fluid discharge for discharging high-pressure fluid (sealed fluid) to a high-pressure side of a sealing face is provided, the disclosed sliding component prevents precipitation, adhesion and accumulation of a deposition-causing substance through a dehydration condensation reaction between the high-pressure fluid and low-pressure fluid on the sealing face, and also prevents occurrence of cavitation which would otherwise take place in association with a sudden pressure drop due to a discharge of fluid. Disclosed is a pair of sliding components provided, on a high-pressure side of one of relatively sliding sealing faces thereof, with a fluid discharge for discharging fluid to a high-pressure fluid side, wherein a buffer groove for reducing penetration of low-pressure fluid toward the high-pressure fluid side is provided in the sealing face S on a low-pressure side of the fluid discharge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: EAGLE INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masatoshi Itadani, Yuichiro Tokunaga, Kazumasa Sunagawa, Hikaru Katori
  • Patent number: 9593775
    Abstract: A retrofit method for modifying a radial lead seal assembly of a generator and a radial lead seal assembly of a generator are presented. The radial lead seal assembly seals a radial chamber from an axial chamber. The radial lead seal assembly includes sealing elements disposed around a radial lead to seal an annular space between the radial lead and the radial chamber, a coil spring disposed around the radial lead between the sealing elements and a junction between the radial lead and the axial lead, and a nut. The retrofit method includes removing one or more of the sealing elements to define a radial space between the remainder of the sealing elements and the coil spring. Conical springs are inserted in the radial space and only partially compressed under a radially inward compressive load exerted on the radial lead seal assembly via the nut.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: SIEMENS ENERGY, INC.
    Inventors: Michael J. Rasinski, Robert Gore, Randy Edward Whitener
  • Patent number: 9587744
    Abstract: The sealing material is configured to be installed in a dovetail groove. The sealing material has a seal cross-section including a main body arranged on a bottom surface of the dovetail groove, and a lip portion which is bent from an end of the main body and extends toward an outside of the dovetail groove. The seal cross-section has such a V shape that each of the main body and the lip portion extends linearly from a bending position between the main body and the lip portion. A width B1 of the main body in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the main body extends linearly is not more than a width B2 of the lip portion in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the lip portion extends linearly. This configuration provides the sealing material which can be used under an extremely low load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: NIPPON VALQUA INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Nobuhiro Yoshida, Masamichi Iwaki
  • Patent number: 9587503
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to a seal between two components. The seal includes a first substantially frustoconical seal section including a first seal section radially outer end and a first seal section radially inner end. The seal also includes a second substantially frustoconical seal section including a second seal section radially outer end and a second seal section radially inner end, wherein the second seal section radially inner end is supported by the first seal section radially inner end to create a hinge joint allowing an angle defined between the first and second seal sections to change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Timothy M Davis
  • Patent number: 9587745
    Abstract: Even when a fluid discharge for discharging high-pressure fluid (sealed fluid) to a high-pressure side of a sealing face is provided, the disclosed sliding component prevents precipitation, adhesion and accumulation of a deposition-causing substance through a dehydration condensation reaction between the high-pressure fluid and low-pressure fluid on the sealing face, and also prevents occurrence of cavitation which would otherwise take place in association with a sudden pressure drop due to a discharge of fluid. Disclosed is a pair of sliding components provided, on a high-pressure side of one of relatively sliding sealing faces thereof, with a fluid discharge for discharging fluid to a high-pressure fluid side, wherein a buffer groove for reducing penetration of low-pressure fluid toward the high-pressure fluid side is provided in the sealing face S on a low-pressure side of the fluid discharge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: EAGLE INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masatoshi Itadani, Yuichiro Tokunaga, Kazumasa Sunagawa, Hikaru Katori
  • Patent number: 9581271
    Abstract: A sealing gland is provided for forming a seal between a plurality of elongate members and a surface having an aperture, or a pipe, through which the elongate members extend. The sealing gland includes a main sealing portion for sealing to the surface or the pipe. Skirts extend from a base of the sealing gland, where each skirt includes a lumen extending from the base to a distant end of the skirt for receiving one of the elongate members. Each skirt provides a flexible seal for sealing around a periphery of the elongate member, and adjacent skirts are adjoined along a portion of the length of the skirts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Lake Products Limited
    Inventors: Andrew Leo Haynes, Gabriel Ioan Giurgiu
  • Patent number: 9581200
    Abstract: A fluid is actively taken into sealing faces and discharged from the sealing faces to prevent concentration of sediment causative substances on the sealing faces and prevent generation of sediment while preventing leakage of the fluid taken into the sealing faces to a low pressure fluid side. A fluid circulation groove includes an inlet side section where the fluid comes in from a high pressure fluid side and an outlet side section where the fluid goes out to the high pressure fluid side in one of sealing faces of a pair of sliding parts that slide on each other. The fluid circulation groove is isolated from the low pressure fluid side by a land section. Groove width of the outlet side section of the fluid circulation groove is gradually expended toward an outlet end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: EAGLE INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masatoshi Itadani, Kazumasa Sunagawa, Yuuichiro Tokunaga, Ryoma Yamakawa
  • Patent number: 9581037
    Abstract: The present application provide a seal for use between components engine facing a high pressure cooling air flow and a hot gas path in a gas turbine. The seal may include a first shim, a second shim with an air exit hole, one or more middle layers positioned between the first shim and the second shim, and one or more cooling pathways extending through the middle layers for the high pressure cooling air flow to pass therethrough and exit via the air exit hole into the hot gas path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Matthew Troy Hafner, Victor John Morgan, Jacob John Kittleson, Neelesh N. Sarawate
  • Patent number: 9568102
    Abstract: Gasket stock is disclosed having a rectangular metal core that is readily bendable in one direction and a deformable rubberized jacket coextruded with and encasing the metal core. A method of fabricating the gasket stock through a coextrusion process is disclosed. A method also is disclosed for forming a press-in-place gasket with the method including obtaining bendable gasket stock, incrementally advancing the gasket stock to predetermined positions in a bender, and bending the gasket stock at the predetermined positions along its length to form a desired shape of the press-in-place gasket. The bender is controlled by a computer to form the shape of the gasket according to a CAD or other electronic file. Finally, a method of supplying press-in-place gaskets and accommodating design changes of such gaskets is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Interface Performance Materials, Inc.
    Inventor: Jeffery Barrall
  • Patent number: 9562610
    Abstract: Fire retardant dryer seals and related methods are provided herein. A fire retardant dryer seal can include an elongate, flexible base substrate having a first end and a second end. The base substrate can also have a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface. The first end and the second end of the base substrate secured together so that the base substrate forms at least a portion of an annular shape. A heat resistant coating disposed on at least the first surface of the base substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Felters of South Carolina, LLC
    Inventors: Vernon J. Lowe, James Justice, Christina D. Viets
  • Patent number: 9562608
    Abstract: A rotary shaft and a seal mechanism are provided. The rotary shaft extends into outside air outside a case via a shaft hole provided in the case of a drive system. The seal mechanism prevents entry of foreign matter from the outside air into the shaft hole. The case includes a canopy portion and a recessed portion. The recessed portion is recessed coaxially with the canopy portion from an end face of the canopy portion in the direction of the axis. The seal mechanism includes a deflector and a seal member. The deflector is fixed to the rotary shaft in a liquid-tight manner, and extends into the recessed portion. The seal member is an elastic body. The seal member is fixed in the shaft hole in a liquid-tight manner, and is in sliding contact in a liquid-tight manner with the rotary shaft and the deflector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignees: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Kimura, Noriaki Nonaka, Yasuaki Tahara, Atsushi Kajikawa, Masaya Michishita, Hirofumi Goto, Tadashi Yamada, Yoshihiro Ikushima
  • Patent number: 9551419
    Abstract: A sliding element, such as a piston ring, including a substrate, base coating, and relatively thin sliding coating is provided. The base coating is typically applied to a running surface of the substrate by PVD, CVD, galvanic deposition, electrodeposition, or a thermal spray process. The sliding coating includes a polymer matrix and hard particles disposed throughout the matrix. The sliding coating is applied to the base coating when the base coating is still in its as-applied condition and has a surface roughness of at least 4.0 ?m. During use of the sliding element, the thin sliding coating acts as a sacrificial run-in layer. In addition, as the polymer matrix of the sliding coating wears away, the hard particles polish the rough surface of the base coating. Thus, polishing or lapping of the as-applied base coating prior to use of the sliding element is not required.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: Federal-Mogul Corporation
    Inventors: Troy Kantola, James R. Toth, Robert R. Aharonov
  • Patent number: 9546687
    Abstract: A bearing seal (2) of a rolling bearing configured as a wheel bearing (1) that is connected between a first rotationally rigid bearing part (5) and a second bearing part (7) that is integral with a wheel bearing flange (8), between which rolling bodies (6) are guided. The bearing seal (2) includes a splash plate (3) configured as a preseal, which is supported on an axially and radially oriented contour (12) of the second bearing part (7), and together with the wheel bearing flange (8), axially defines a catch channel (24). A seal fitting (4) is fixed to the first bearing part (5) by a reinforcement (22), wherein the reinforcement (22) is enclosed by an elastic sealing material (21), at least in some areas, from which sealing lips (20, 28, 29) are formed, which are grindingly or non-grindingly associated with the splash plate (3).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG
    Inventors: Andreas Kaiser, Roland Langer, Frank Eichelmann, Tobias Bauer, Markus Reuter, Ralf Heiss, Jonas Lang
  • Patent number: 9541200
    Abstract: A ring seal apparatus for high temperature sealing includes a first ring including a pair of radial faces and a second ring including a second pair of radial faces, the second ring adapted to coact with the first ring. The first and second rings together define a pair of coacting mating faces. The mating faces are obliquely angled relative to the radial faces, such that each of the coacting mating faces is adapted to seal an interface of the two rings at an angle relative to their substantially parallel radial faces. The pair of coacting rings is adapted to seal a circumferential gap between a pair of components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Richard J. Kloepfer
  • Patent number: 9534690
    Abstract: This leakage prevention seal is provided with: a first seal ring which surrounds a rotating shaft and which is in circumferential contact with the surface of a housing which faces the upstream side; a second seal ring, which, on the upstream side of the first seal ring, surrounds the rotating shaft and which is in circumferential contact with the first seal ring; and a heat-driven section which, when high-temperature pressurized water reaches the heat-driven section, reduces the diameter of both the first seal ring and the second seal ring and causes the inner peripheral surfaces of both the first seal ring and the second seal ring to be in contact with the rotating shaft. The circumferential positions of both a first range between the first seal ring and the rotating shaft and a second range formed by the second seal ring are different.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Hidetaka Kafuku, Hidekazu Uehara, Yukihiro Sakaguchi
  • Patent number: 9534692
    Abstract: A rotary seal (10) for a fluid handling machine comprising first circular body (12) with circumferential surface (28) and second circular body (16) with similar surface (27), such that the bodies when coaxially assembled, the circumferential surface (28) and similar surface (27) mate with each other forming a sealing surface contact. An internal end face (33) of rotary seal (10) is exposed to fluids with an inclination, such that the fluid pressure on internal end face (33) adds to contact force at sealing contact surface. The first circular body (12) is continuous and second circular body (16) with a split (17) has a spring characteristic such that two ends formed by the split (17), force away from each other, hence exerting a radial force on circumferential surface when assembled with first circular body (12) and compensating for circumferential wear during operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Inventor: Das Ajee Kamath
  • Patent number: 9534689
    Abstract: A metal seal ring disclosed herein includes a front side surface having a plurality of first sealing areas and second sealing areas, and a back side surface having a plurality of spaced-apart protrusions having a radially innermost surface located at a first radial distance from a longitudinal axis of the seal and a first axial distance from an axis of symmetry of the seal. The back side also includes a plurality of recesses located between one of the protrusions and the axis of symmetry, each recess having a radially outermost surface located at a second radial distance from the longitudinal axis and a second axial distance from the axis of symmetry. A ratio of the second axial distance to the first axial distance falls within the range of about 0.38-0.63, and a ratio of the second radial distance to the first radial distance falls within the range of about 0.79-1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: FMC Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Chi-Li Chen
  • Patent number: 9528608
    Abstract: A sealing element for sealing a cylindrical inner surface of a first machine component and a cylindrical outer surface of a second machine component includes an inner ring, an outer ring arranged coaxially with respect to the inner ring, and a sealing gap, which is formed by an exterior lateral face of the inner ring and an interior lateral face of the outer ring. In an axial section through the common axis of the inner ring and the outer ring the sealing gap has a profile having an inlet section as a first end portion of the sealing gap having a first radius to the common axis; an outlet section as a second end portion of the sealing gap having a second radius to the common axis, wherein the second radius is smaller than the first radius; and a meander section, which adjoins the inlet section and which has a monotonically decreasing radius.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: Paul Mueller GmbH & Co. KG Unternehmensbeteiligungen
    Inventors: Manfred Elbacher, Andreas Radke