JPS5969570A - Fluid seal - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming a fluid seal between opposing surfaces, and more particularly to a socket having dual sealing members.

Creating a reliable, durable seal between the opening of a pressure vessel and its closure remains a constant challenge to those skilled in the art, despite various innovations in the materials used in closures. This presented an unavoidable problem. For example, in sterilizers that operate under both positive and passive pressure during a given sterilization cycle, an effective seal between the sterilizer door and the door frame under conditions of heavy door use may be required. There is a problem with setting it up.

A sealing gas get for a sterilizer door, whether mounted on the door, on a deck, or on a frame, is conventionally held in place by a gasket that extends around the opening to be sealed. The installation and removal of the sketches results in considerable effort, ie machined material on one of the surfaces to be sealed. These grooves hold the gasket pace in place and require close tolerances to the gasket dimensions to be effective.

A further problem associated with sealing gaskets for sterilizer doors is the tendency of the sget material to acquire permanent deformation (or distortion) after repeated crushing between the surfaces to be sealed. This problem is most acute when a compressed type of sealed gas get is used. This is because the gas get requires a certain amount of compressive force to form a seal. Overcompression, primarily due to the sealing surfaces that are brought into close proximity to a particular gasket, can result in permanent deformation or distortion, resulting in a very short gasket life.

When a lip seal gasket is used, crushing of the seal is not critical to its operation. This is because the seal relies on its effectiveness in the presence of a pressure differential across the lip. Nevertheless, over-squeezing of the lip seal can permanently deform the resilient lip, thereby reducing the life of the seal. Regarding compression seals, maintenance of proper spacing between the surfaces sealed by the lip seal is absolutely necessary for its operation.

In general, neither Sketper nor Miso as a sterilizer door sealing gas get attachment system presents the problem of repeatedly providing a suitable spacing between the surfaces to be closed and sealed on each door.

The present invention allows the seal to engage a sealing gasket by providing a convenient means of attaching the socket to one of the surfaces to be sealed without the need for a cumbersome gasket and, of course, the need for a mounting groove. This overcomes the above-mentioned problems. The gasket attachment device of the present invention also serves as a spacing device between the surfaces to be sealed, and
Therefore, there is less chance of permanent deformation of the seal.

The present invention provides a plurality of surfaces arranged along one of the surfaces and adapted to interlock with another of the surfaces when the surfaces are in facing relationship and provide a spacing between the opposing surfaces. The spaced gasket attachment includes a member and a pair of spaced sealing members extending longitudinally between opposing surfaces and mounted to engage the opposing surfaces to form a seal between the opposing surfaces. an apparatus for forming a fluid seal between two opposing surfaces, the apparatus comprising: a gas getter having a spaced-apart sealing member; It is to be.

Preferably, the gasket attachment member used in the present invention comprises:
A rigid post member with an enlarged head portion.

Further, the web device of the present invention is preferably made of a resilient material and has a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings;
These openings pass over the enlarged head portion of the post member during deformation, thus providing a means to hold the gasket arrangement in place.

The sealing members of the present invention are preferably of the double lip seal variety or are cylindrical compression seals, although of course other types of sealing members may be useful in the present invention.

Other details and advantages of the invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, first of all, according to FIGS. 1 and 2, a device suitable for use in forming a fluid seal between opposing surfaces 12 and 14, represented respectively by a door and a door frame of a sterilization device. A sealing gasket 10 is shown.

Gasket 10 is formed of any suitable resilient material, such as silicone rubber, and in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a pair of spaced apart outwardly facing dual lips 16 and 18.

Each pair of double lips 16,18 is generally partially C-shaped and symmetrical. Upper and lower parts 16a, 18a and 16b of double lip 16.18.

18b - respectively curve outwardly towards their free ends. This taper is intended to provide the resiliency necessary for operation of the lip seal.

The sealing socket 10 is particularly adapted for use where there is a reversible positive pressure differential across the gap between the surfaces being sealed, for example in sterilization equipment operating under both pressure and vacuum. In such an application with the sterilizer surroundings acting on the right side of Figure 2 and the atmosphere acting on the left side, the positive pressure of the sterilizer container acts against the double lip 18 and forces the upper and lower parts apart, respectively. are applied and brought into sealing engagement with surfaces 12 and 14, respectively. When the sterilizer container operates under vacuum, the positive pressure differential across sealing gasket 10 is reversed. Atmospheric pressure then acts on the double lip 16 forcing the upper and lower portions 16a and 16b, respectively, into sealing engagement with the surfaces 2 and 14, respectively.

It will be seen that in the operation of the sealing gasket 10 just described, the double lip opposite the side to which positive pressure is applied has no effect as long as that condition exists. More importantly, however, it can be seen that this type of operation, where the seal changes the force on the gasket 10, requires an installation device for the seal to prevent lateral movement of the gasket 10. Such a mounting device is provided in the present invention and will be described below.

Dual lips 16 and 18 are joined together by webs 20, which are shown as orthogonal sections of width in FIGS. 1 and 2. A series of longitudinally spaced holes 22 are formed in the web 20. The spacing between these holes matches the spacing between post members 24, which will be described later.

Post member 24 is preferably rigidly threaded with threaded end portions 26 that are spaced longitudinally along one of the surfaces to be sealed, in this case surface 14. It is designed to fit inside the hole. Each post member 24 has a shank portion 28 .
A shoulder 30 separates the post member 24 from the threaded portion 26 so that all post members 24 project the same length above the surface 14. The post member 24 has an enlarged head portion 32 with a flat top surface, except for appropriate grooves which are engaged by the drive, as clearly shown in the drawings.

With the post member 24 in place, the sealing gasket 10 is
Post member 24 and hole 2 having the same spacing as hole 22
2 on the surface 14 by aligning them.

Although the diameter of each hole 22 is smaller than the diameter of the enlarged head portion 32 of the post member 24, the resilient nature of the web 20 allows it to stretch to fit the mueb 20 over the enlarged head portion.

As seen in FIG. 2, web 20 is attached to post member 24.
An annular spacing is created due to the difference in diameter between the hole 22 and the shank portion 28 . This annulus has the positive advantage of reducing the suction cup effect that occurs in the upper or lower longitudinally extending passages 36, 38 formed by sealing surfaces 12 and 14 and gasket 10. This suction force effect, on the other hand, will tend to resist separation of surfaces 12 and 14, for example when attempting to open a sterilizer door. The ability of the web 20 to move relative to the shank portion 28 of the post member 24 has a tendency to wrinkle the sealing gasket 10 as the surfaces 12 and 14 initially move apart from each other, and this creasing action tends to wrinkle the sealing gasket 10. would break the seal creating the suction cup effect.

In addition to forming a sealing means for attaching the socket 10 to the surface 14, the post member 24 serves another important function. That is, ensuring a proper spacing between surfaces 12 and 14 so that the seal prevents excessive crushing forces exerted by these surfaces on the socket 10. When surfaces 12 and 14 are moved into facing relationship, top surface 3 of post member 24
4 contacts the surface 12 and does not move any closer to the surface 14. Since the sealing gasket 10 fitted with a double tongue seal does not rely on the compressive force exerted thereon by the surfaces 12 and 14 for its operation, the characteristics of the spacing created by the post members 24 are as follows. It is of no significance when compression seals are used. 1.Nevertheless, excessive compressive forces in the ridge seal may result in permanent deformation of the elastic lip members, i.e. 16a, 1.6b.
This may result in an ineffective sealing action.

6 and 4, one embodiment of the present invention is shown in which the sealing gasket 50 employs a dual compression type seal. Each sealing member 52,54 is made of a suitable elastomer in one cylindrical cross section. The sealing members 52,54 are joined by a web 56 which is configured identically to web 20 and have a series of aligned openings 58.

A sealing gasket 50 is configured and mounted within surface 14' in the same manner as post member 24.
' is attached to surface 14'. Also, the same dimensional relationship exists between each opening 58 and its corresponding shank portion 28' as described for sealing gasket 10 to create an annular spacing therebetween.

The sealing action of the socket 50 is effected by a squeezing action of the surfaces 12', 14' on the sealing members 52,54. As discussed above, this makes the benefits provided by the spacing action performed by post member 24' even more prominent. Top surface 3 of post member 24'
4' prevents surface 12' from moving closer to surface 14' than a dimension fixed by the dimensions of post member 24', so that an unvarying amount of crushing force is exerted on each door closure. caused by these surfaces in the sealing members 52, 54 of. Properly made sealing member 5
2.540 dimensions and properties establish both sealing action and lack of permanent deformation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a double lip sealing gasket provided in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the seal of FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a compression-type bell-shaped sealing gasket provided in accordance with the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the sealing gasket of FIG. 3 and the surfaces sealed thereby. 10... Gasket, 12.14... Surface, 16.
18...Double lip, 16a, 16b...Upper and do side portion, 20...Web, 22...Hole, 2
4...Post member, 26...Threaded grooved part, 28
...Nyanoku part, 32...Enlarged head part 5

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) A device for forming a fluid seal between two opposing surfaces, wherein the device is disposed along one of said surfaces and brought into opposing relationship with the other of said surfaces so as to form a fluid seal between said opposing surfaces.
a plurality of spaces extending longitudinally between said opposing surfaces and said opposing surfaces having a plurality of spaces adapted to engage when creating said spaces and for forming a seal between said opposing surfaces; a pair of spaced sealing members disposed to engage opposing surfaces of the member, the socket assembly and the spaced sealing members being coupled to each other; A fluid seal forming device comprising: a web device; (2) The fluid seal forming device according to claim (1), wherein the gasket mounting member is a rigid post member provided on the one surface. (3) the web device is made of an elastic material and has a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings formed therein; and the post member deforms the front opening. an enlarged head portion adapted to pass through the opening of the web device thereby holding the gas get device in place along the one surface. The fluid seal forming device according to item (2). (4) The post member has shank portions, each of which is sized to fit loosely within a corresponding opening in the web device. Fluid seal forming device. (5) The fluid seal forming device according to claim (1), wherein the pair of spaced-apart sealing members includes a pair of double seals. (6) The fluid seal forming device according to claim (1), wherein the pair of spaced sealing members comprises a pair of cylindrical compression seals.