Patent ID: 8028409

Claim:
A method of fabricating a planar spring clearance seal compressor comprising: providing a piston having an outer diameter and a house containing a cylinder having an inner diameter within which the piston is to reciprocate along an axis of the piston; providing gas bearing pads on one of a) the outer diameter of the piston, b) the inner diameter of the cylinder, or c) pressurizing tooling to center the piston relative to the cylinder in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the piston, the gas bearing pads having associated gas flow passageways and gas flow restrictors; providing at least one planar spring; positioning the planar spring perpendicular to the axis of the piston and providing a gas under pressure to the gas flow passageways and gas flow restrictors to center the piston in the cylinder in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the piston before permanently fastening the at least one planar spring to the compressor to fix the relative radial positions of the piston and the cylinder; while maintaining the gas pressure, rigidly fastening the at least one planar spring so that the planar spring fixes the relative radial position of the piston and the cylinder, the planar spring being fastened to the piston adjacent a center of the planar spring and to the housing adjacent a periphery of the planar spring radially outward from the center of the planar spring; and, terminating the gas pressure to the gas flow passageways and gas flow restrictors.