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:
Jul. 22, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 25, 2000
Daniel K. Zitting, St. George, UT (US);
Macrotech Polyseal, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT (US);
Abstract
A buffer seal adapted for use in a seal assembly including at least a primary seal, the seal assembly being adapted to provide a fluid seal between two relatively moving machine elements, such as a piston or rod of a first machine element moving within a cylindrical bore of a second machine element. The buffer seal comprises a sealing element and a resiliently deformable biasing element. The material, shape, and/or volume of the biasing element are selected to provide a desired biasing force sufficient to maintain a surface of the sealing element in sealing contact with a surface of the first machine element and to simultaneously maintain another surface of the sealing element in sealing contact with a surface of the second machine element. In one embodiment, the buffer seal may be configured such that axial movement and tilting of the buffer seal within its associated gland are substantially eliminated. In another embodiment, the buffer seal may be configured to control the back pressure in the region between the buffer seal and the primary seal and to maintain the back pressure at a specified threshold pressure. The buffer seal may be further configured to inhibit the migration of system contaminants to the primary seal.