Spring-Energized Seal Assembly for Stable Coil Loading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional spring energized seals face issues with wear and increased friction due to the geometry of the seal lip, leading to potential mechanical failure, and have limited options for consistent loading of the seal lips, which can result in tilting or rolling of the canted coil springs.
Innovation Solution
The use of canted coil springs with complex coil shapes and spring energized seal assemblies that include a sealing element with a seal body and flanges, where the canted coil spring is located in a spring groove to bias the flanges apart, providing even load distribution and preventing rolling or tilting, and can be designed with various contact configurations such as line contacts and extended point contacts to enhance sealing performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the seal lip protrudes from the seal body and extends towards the dynamic member surface, then the sealing surface area increases with wear, but friction increases leading to increased wear, temperature, and resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the seal lip by providing grooves that allow the lip to retract from the dynamic member surface as wear occurs. This reverses the conventional wear pattern where the sealing surface area increases with wear. The retraction mechanism maintains consistent friction levels by preventing the seal lip from continuously extending toward the dynamic member surface.
2Device complexity
If conventional spring energized seals are used with limited loading options, then the seal structure is simple, but the canted coil spring is prone to tilting or rolling causing off-optimal loading position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component - a retainer or cage structure - that surrounds and constrains the canted coil spring. This intermediary element prevents the spring from tilting or rolling during operation, maintaining optimal loading position without significantly complicating the overall seal structure. The retainer acts as a mediator between the spring and the seal housing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a flexible retainer structure that can accommodate spring deflection while maintaining constraint. This thin-walled cage or retainer flexes with spring movement but prevents rotational instability, providing a balance between flexibility for spring operation and rigidity for preventing tilting.
3Duration of action of moving object
If the canted coil spring is allowed to tilt or roll, then the spring can accommodate wear, but the loading point becomes off-optimal or load on seal lip is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a feedback mechanism where the retainer structure responds to spring deflection caused by wear. As the seal lip wears and the spring deflects, the retainer maintains the spring's orientation, ensuring continuous optimal loading. This feedback loop prevents the spring from adopting tilted positions that would reduce loading effectiveness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration increases the stability of the canted coil spring within the seal assembly, prevents mechanical failure, and ensures consistent sealing performance by maintaining optimal load distribution and preventing rolling or tilting, thereby extending seal life and reducing friction.
Implementation Method 1
A canted coil spring is located in the spring groove. The canted coil spring comprises a plurality of interconnected coils... The canted coil spring may be made from a metal material, from a metal alloy, or from a base material with one or more outer metallic layers or coats.
Data Source
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AI summary
Spring energized seal assemblies (100) each with one or two sealing elements (102) and a canted coil spring (120) located in a spring cavity (116) of the sealing element or of the two sealing elements to bias an inner flange (106) and an outer flange (108) of the respective spring cavity away from one another. The canted coil springs can have un-conventional coil shapes with one or more straight coil segments (150) and/or with curved connecting ends (152). The coils can have dimples (182) to provide multiple biasing points. The coils can have loops (170, 180). The canted coil springs with un-conventional coil shapes can be used to improve spring loading on a sealing element.