The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 27, 1996
Filed:
Nov. 18, 1994
Kraig Kostohris, Maple Valley, WA (US);
Olivier L Tremoulet, Jr, Edmonds, WA (US);
Thomas Sizemore, Federal Way, WA (US);
Larry Pearson, Sumner, WA (US);
Chidambaram Raghavan, Kent, WA (US);
Flow International Corporation, Kent, WA (US);
Abstract
A self-venting seal assembly for use in an ultrahigh-pressure pump is shown and described. In a preferred embodiment, a low-pressure seal is used to energize a high-pressure seal, the low-pressure seal having a 'u' shaped cross-section, thereby creating a groove in a first end of the low-pressure seal. When the first end of the seal is exposed to pressurized fluid, it expands outwardly thereby substantially preventing the leakage of fluid past it. To the extent that any pressurized fluid does leak past the seal, which would act against a second end of the seal when the pressure on the opposite side of the seal drops, the seal compresses inwardly, thereby allowing the pressurized fluid to flow back past the seal. In a preferred embodiment, the high-pressure seal comprises a sleeve seal having an annular opening through which the plunger reciprocates, the sleeve seal being supported by a backup ring, the backup ring also having an annular opening through which the plunger passes. The sleeve seal and backup ring are configured such that they may be placed in an annular bore of a seal carrier and an annular end surface of the sleeve seal and an annular surface of the backup ring abut each other and are substantially flush, thereby simplifying manufacturing and installation of the seal assembly.