another with thermoplastic film. As a result, onlyone formed elastomer seal is required for each fuelcell within a stack in order to provide a modularfuel cell stack assembly, or a number of sub-stackassemblies are stacked relative to one another by asoft compliant gasket seal.Patent number: WO 02/25753Inventors: S.P. Bonk, M. Krasu, C.A. Reiser,M.J. Rajpolt Publication date: 28 March 2002

Sealing system for rotatingsubassemblyApplicant: Alstom (Switzerland) Ltd,SwitzerlandThe invention relates to a sealing system,which is provided between a rotating sub-assembly and a static sub-assembly. In thissealing system, the rotating sub-assemblycomprises at least one blade-shaped element,which protrudes inside a counter runningsurface on the static component. The system ischaracterized in that the blade-shaped elementis provided as a metal-cutting means with ageometrically specified blade located acrossfrom the counter running surface, or it forms ametal-cutting means of this type, as the rotating sub-assembly rotates. The sealing system reduces wear to the blade-shaped element under unfavourable rotationconditions or temperature conditions.Patent number: WO 02/25065Inventors: A. Beeck, B. Benedetti, A. Kieninger,U. RathmannPublication date: 28 March 2002

Sealed electrical cable duct Applicant: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft,GermanyAccording to this patent, the material andmanufacturing costs for a sealed electrical cableduct through the wall of a housing may bereduced, whereby electrical conductors areembedded in a flexible conductor support madefrom polyester. The conductor support isintroduced into a dedicated duct opening in thewall of the housing made from a polyamide bymeans of a conductor support seal that is madefrom a thermoplastic.Patent number: WO 02/24485Inventor: K. PucheggerPublication date: 28 March 2002

Valve sealApplicant: Fresenius Medial Care DeutschlandGmbH, GermanyThe invention relates to a valve for closing liquidchannels. It is especially designed for use indisposable cartridges for extra- corporealcircuits. The valve comprises a valve body having

a pressure channel, and a seal bonnet which cancooperate with the valve body in such a way thatit closes the valve body side end of the pressurechannel to the environment. The valve isembodied in such a way that a pressure chambercan be formed between the pressure channel andthe seal bonnet, the seal bonnet comprising adeformable sealing region for entering into aliquid channel and closing it. The invention alsorelates to an appliance for using with adisposable cartridge, comprising at least oneliquid channel that uses the valve, or a receivingelement for one such valve. The inventionfurther relates to a disposable cartridge for usingwith an appliance and a seal bonnet for use withthe valve.Patent number: WO 02/25146Inventors: J. Beden, J. Braun, H.-P. SchneiderPublication date: 28 March 2002

Nanocomposite dispersions Applicant: Rohm and Haas Co, USAProcesses for utilizing various emulsionpolymerization procedures for preparingaqueous nanocomposite dispersion aredisclosed. The disclosed processes include bothin-situ polymerization in the presence of at leastpartially exfoliated, unmodified clay, as well asadmixtures of polymer dispersions with at leastpartially exfoliated unmodified clay dispersions.The disclosed nanocomposite dispersion areuseful for preparing a variety of materials, suchas coatings, adhesives, caulks, sealants, plasticadditives and thermoplastic resins. Processes forpreparing polymer clay nanocomposite powdersand use of these powders as a plastics resin andplastics additives are also disclosed.Patent number: WO 02/24760Inventors: C.-S. Chou, E.E. Lafleur, K.D.Neglia, D.P. Lorah, R.V. SlonePublication date: 28 March 2002

Epoxy resin moulding material forsealingApplicant: Hitachi Chemical Co Ltd, JapanAn epoxy resin moulding material for sealingprocedures has been developed. It comprises, asessential components an epoxy resin; a curingagent; and a silane coupling agent or aphosphoric acid ester. The material can be usedto seal a semiconductor device. The sealingmaterial has excellent fluidity and can be usedfor manufacturing a semiconductor devicewhich is thin, has a great number of pins, has along wire, has a narrow pad pitch, or hassemiconductor chips directly arranged on thesurface of a substrate.Patent number: WO 02/24808Inventors: R. Ikezawa, M. Fujii, S. HagiwaraPublication date: 28 March 2002

PATENTS

12Sealing Technology September 2002

Unitized boot seal for ball jointsAssignee: Dana Corp, USAThis patent pertains generally to a ball jointfor motor vehicles, but more particularly toa unitized boot seal formed from anelastically deformable material in which ametallic sealing element is providedadjacent to the boot-seal to shaft-interface,to prevent contamination of the sealedarea. It provides a boot seal surface interface fordiverting contamination from the primaryboot to ball stud and arm seal location. It also provides details of a boot sealelement for use in a steering assembly of amotor vehicle, for protecting the boot sealof a tie rod end ball joint fromcontamination during articulation of thesteering knuckle. It is a further objective of the patent to provide a secondary sealingportion for the boot seal of the tie rodend ball joint that is both easy tomanufacture and cost effective, and tocreate a secondary sealing portion of the boot seal element that does not impedethe angular movement, or rotation of theball joint. Dynamic sealing during normaltie rod rotation and oscillation occursbetween the sealing element and the tie rodboot.Figure 1 shows a partial perspective view ofa typical front steering assembly (10) of amotor vehicle. Included are majorcomponents and sub-assemblies such as asteer axle beam (12), a steering knuckle(14), and a tie rod (or track rod) cross tube(16). Steer axle beam (12) is received bysteering knuckle (14) and is coupled to it.As shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3, thesteering knuckle includes an input/outputmember (18) which is more commonlyknown as a tie rod arm (or AckermannArm). The tie rod arm has a first end (20)which is coupled to steering knuckleassembly (14), and a second end (22)which is affixed to a ball stud (24) of a balljoint assembly (26). While the invention isshown incorporated into a front steeringassembly (10), it is potentially applicable toother designs.Referring again to Figure 2, the ball jointassembly (26) further includes a boot seal(42) for protecting the joint assembly fromenvironmental contamination wear. Suchenvironmental contamination may resultfrom water, dirt, gravel and othercontamination that may interfere with theconnection between the socket and ballhead portion (34) (see Figure 4).

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