SEAL ASSEMBLY AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF
A method of assembling a seal includes presetting a spring in a core material and performing a lost core molding process with the spring being preset in the core, which provides for more exact manufacture, leading to lighter weight, higher performance and ability to make complex designs.
1 . A method for assembling a seal assembly, comprising:
providing a seal, a biasing member in a shape of a spring structure, and a core material, the seal including a plurality of material layers;
molding a core, the core including the spring structure and the core material, the core material being configured for temporarily retaining the spring structure;
applying the plurality of material layers onto the core for forming the seal onto the core; and
removing the core material such that only the spring structure is housed within the seal.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the removing the core material further comprises dissolving the seal so that the core material is removed and only the spring structure remains.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the core material further comprises a wax.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spring structure is not entirely covered by the core material.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the spring structure does not reside on an exterior or outside of the core material.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein molding the spring structure and the core material further comprises creating a salt mold, from melted blue temp salt #430, laying the spring structure in a cavity in the salt mold, clamping the salt mold with the spring structure therein, and pouring a polyisobutylene mixture into the salt mold to form a polyisobutylene mixture mandrel and spring structure.
7 . A seal assembly, comprising:
a seal defining a housing; and
an inner biasing member housed within the seal, the inner biasing member being configured to be pre-shaped in a core such that the inner biasing member has a shape which corresponds to a shape of the seal.
8 . The seal assembly of claim 7 , wherein the inner biasing member further comprises a spring.
9 . The seal assembly of claim 7 , wherein the seal has a substantially “P”-shaped cross-section having a closed loop, wherein the inner biasing member is located within the closed loop.
10 . The seal assembly of claim 7 , further comprising insulating material being housed within the inner biasing member, the insulating material acting as a thermal barrier to protect the inner biasing member and the seal from heat.
11 . The seal assembly of claim 7 , wherein the seal is bonded onto the inner biasing member.
12 . The seal assembly of claim 7 , wherein the seal assembly is in a form of an airframe seal assembly which seals various components within an aircraft engine.
13 . A method for assembling a seal assembly, comprising:
presetting a biasing member in a temporary core material; and
performing a lost core molding process with the biasing member being preset in the temporary core material.
14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising creating a mold, such as a salt mold with two corresponding halves.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein presetting the biasing member further comprises laying the biasing member within a pre-shaped cavity of one of the two corresponding halves of the mold, and clamping the two corresponding halves of the mold together with the biasing member.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the lost core molding process further comprises adding the temporary core material to the mold to form a temporary core mold that temporarily retains a shape of the biasing member, forming a two-part core.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the lost core molding process further comprises after the mold has cooled, then removing the two-part core from the mold, thereupon, the temporary core material serves as a removable mandrel such that the biasing member is retained in a final shape.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein removing the two-part core from the mold further comprises removing preformed core material so that only the biasing member is left behind within the seal assembly.
19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the temporary core material further comprises a polyisobutylene mixture.
20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the biasing member further comprises a spring.