Patent ID: 6834998
Filing Date: 2004-12-28
Classification: F16J

Abstract:
A shaft bearing-seal assembly comprising:top and bottom bearing-seals, each having a laminate stack formed of a multiplicity of apertured flat or contoured alternate laminations of elastomeric and inelastic materials bonded or sealed together, and each having two opposed apertured outer layer members which each conform on an inner surface to one of the two opposed underlying laminations of said laminate stack and are bonded or sealed to the same, and each has first and second load faces that are each associated with one of said apertured outer layer members, to form an impervious unit having a periphery and an aperture associated respectively with the external and aperture edges of said laminations and outer layer members; and a wall of a pressure vessel, said wall having top and bottom sides and incorporating a radially inward load-supporting seat encircling an aperture through the wall; and a shaft having top and bottom ends and an enlargement in its mid-section that has top- and bottomâ€”oriented load faces, and said bottomâ€”oriented load face engages the first load face of said bottom bearing-seal, the aperture of which is penetrated by said shaft, and the bottom end of said shaft extends through the aperture in said wall so that said seat engages the second load face of said bottom bearing-seal, and the top end of said shaft extends through the aperture in said top bearing-seal so that the first load face of said top bearing-seal engages said top-oriented load face or said shaft enlargement; and sealing means between said shaft and the first outer layer member of said bottom bearing-seal and between said wall and the second outer layer member of said bottom bearing-seal, whereby complete sealing involving said bottom bearing-seal is established between said shaft and said wall; and sealing means between said shaft and the first outer layer member of said top bearing-seal and between said wall and the second outer layer member of said top bearing-seal, whereby complete sealing involving said top bearing-seal is established between said shaft and said wall; and top and bottom fluid media on the top and bottom sides of said wall, and their flow toward the other side of said wall is blocked by said complete sealing functions; whereby complete sealing is established between said shaft and said wall against the flow of either said fluid medium toward the other despite substantial differential pressure between them and the possibility of failure of one said bearing-seal or its said sealing means, and said shaft can carry limited movement from a coupled mechanism on one side of said wall through to a coupled mechanism on the other side by means of shear strain in said elastomeric laminations.