Springs and methods of forming same
View Patent ↗A seal includes a polymeric jacket defining a seal surface and an inner cavity extending within the polymeric jacket along a length of the polymeric jacket. The seal further includes a spring extending within the inner cavity and including a plurality of laser cut spring elements. The seal can be disposed between a static component and a rotatable component.
1. A method of forming a seal, the method comprising: providing a ribbon of sheet material having a thickness of not greater than 10 mils; cutting with a fiber laser device a plurality of spring elements distributed
longitudinally along the ribbon to form a spring work piece, the fiber laser device
comprises a fiber laser including an optical fiber active gain medium; and folding the spring work piece to form a spring.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sheet material comprises a metal alloy selected from the group consisting a stainless steel, a copper alloy, a nickel alloy, or any combination thereof.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein cutting includes cutting the plurality of spring elements to extend latitudinally across the ribbon.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spring elements extend to have a ratio of the width of a spring work piece formed from the ribbon to the width of the ribbon of at least 0.9.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ratio is at least 0.95.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the ratio is approximately 1.0.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sheet metal has a thickness of not greater than 8 mils.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spring work piece is a continuous piece and wherein folding the spring work piece includes continuously folding the spring work piece.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising cutting the ribbon to form separate spring work pieces with the fiber laser device.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein folding the spring work piece includes positioning the spring work piece and folding the positioned spring work piece.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising inserting the spring into a seal jacket.
12. A method of forming a seal, the method comprising:
dispensing a ribbon of sheet metal having a thickness of not greater than 8 mils;
forming with a fiber laser device a plurality of spring elements distributed along a length
of the ribbon and extending latitudinally across the ribbon, wherein the fiber laser
device comprises a fiber laser including an optical fiber active gain medium;
cutting the ribbon with the fiber laser device to form a spring work piece; and
folding the spring work piece along a longitudinal length of the ribbon.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of spring elements extend to have a ratio of the width of a spring work piece formed from the ribbon to the width of the ribbon of at least 0.9.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein folding the spring work piece includes positioning the spring work piece and folding the positioned spring work piece.
15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising inserting the spring into a seal jacket.
16. A method of forming a seal, the method comprising:
dispensing a tube having a thickness of not greater than 10 mils;
cutting the tube with a fiber laser device to form a pattern of spring elements
distributed longitudinally along the length of the tube, wherein the fiber laser
device comprises a fiber laser including an optical fiber active gain medium.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein cutting the tube includes cutting a spiral.
18. The method of claim 16 , wherein cutting the tube includes cutting the tube having the pattern of the spring elements to form a spring work piece.
19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising rotating the tube while cutting.
20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the tube includes a metal or metal alloy.