Multi-material seal having a seal body and core

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017191565-A1
Application number	US-201514984345-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system may include a seal including a seal body having an exterior with a seal interface. Additionally, the system may include a core disposed internally within and surrounded by the seal body. A gas permeability of the core may be less than a gas permeability of the seal body, a coefficient of thermal expansion of the core may be less than a coefficient of thermal expansion of the seal body, or a combination thereof.

First claim

1 . A system, comprising:
a seal, comprising:
a seal body comprising an exterior surface configured to interface with a structure; and
a core disposed internally within and surrounded by the seal body, wherein a first coefficient of thermal expansion of the core is negative, and a second coefficient of thermal expansion of the seal body is positive.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the seal body comprises an elastomer.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the core comprises a metallic material.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the core comprises a shape memory alloy.

5 . (canceled)

6 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the seal body comprises a rubber or a thermoplastic elastomer.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a first gas permeability of the core is less than a second gas permeability of the seal body.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the first gas permeability of the core is less than 50% of the second gas permeability of the seal body.

9 - 11 . (canceled)

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the seal is annular.

13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the seal comprises a T-seal, a metal-end-cap seal, an S-seal, an O-ring seal, or a C-ring seal.

14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a height of the core is between approximately 20% and 50% of a height of the seal body, a width of the core is between approximately 20% and 50% of a width of the seal body, or both.

15 . A system, comprising:
a seal, comprising:
a seal body comprising an exterior surface configured to interface with a structure; and
a core disposed internally within and surrounded by the seal body, wherein the core comprises an outer surface configured to contact and interface with the seal body, a radial distance between the exterior surface and the outer surface is substantially constant along a total width of the core, the seal body comprises an elastomer, and the core comprises a metal.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the metal comprises steel, iron, titanium, tungsten, a nickel-based alloy, or a combination thereof.

17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the seal is annular.

18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein a total height of the core is between approximately 20% and 50% of a total height of the seal body, the total width of the core is between approximately 20% and 50% of a total width of the seal body, or both.

19 . A method, comprising:
forming a seal body having an interior chamber and an exterior surface that is configured to interface with a structure; and inserting a core into the interior chamber, wherein at least one of a gas permeability of the core is less than a gas permeability of the seal body, or a coefficient of thermal expansion of the core is less than a coefficient of thermal expansion of the seal body, or a combination thereof.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the seal body comprises an elastomer, and the core comprises a metallic material.

21 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the core comprises multiple physically separate core segments disposed within the seal body.

22 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the core comprises a plurality of layers, and at least two of the plurality of layers comprise different materials from one another, different gas permeability from one another, different coefficient of thermal expansion from one another, or any combination thereof.

23 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the exterior surface of the seal body and the outer surface of the core are curved along at least a portion of the total width of the core.

24 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the radial distance between the exterior surface and the outer surface remains within five percent of an average radial distance between the exterior surface and the outer surface across the total width of the core.

Assignees

• Onesubsea Ip Uk Ltd

Inventors

• Cheng Hoi Ling
• Tu Bryan Matthew

Classifications

• E21B2200/01

  Sealings characterised by their shape · CPC title

• E21B33/00

  Sealing or packing boreholes or wells · CPC title

• F16J15/102 Primary

  characterised by material · CPC title

• F16J15/3284

  characterised by their structure; Selection of materials · CPC title

• F16J15/121 Primary

  with metal reinforcement · CPC title