unit before it is assembled into a string. It is often necessary to fit the seal in an area where it may be gripped for screwing together tubular units. This patent describes a split seal, which can be fitted to a tubular unit after assembly. A variety of clamping methods are also covered.Patent number: WO/2010/112811Inventor: C. MackiePublication date: 7 October 2010

Seal ring for an exhaust gas recirculation system

Applicant: Saint-GobainPerformance Plastics Pampus GmbH, Germany This patent discusses seals for use in exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) valves in an automotive engine. The requirements are discussed in detail, and an V-section seal is illustrated. The seal can be made from a semi-rigid or flexible material, such as certain natural and synthetic polymers. For example, the seal can include polytetrafluor-oethylene (PTFE), rubber, latex, polyethylene or polyamide. The potential for spring energisation is also discussed in the patent.Patent number: WO/2010/113006Inventors: T. Recktenwald and T. MoellerPublication date: 7 October 2010

Mould cavity seal

Applicant: NOK Corp, JapanA method of maintaining the pressure in a mould cavity while material is being injected is described by this patent. It involves making use of the overflow of material into a surplus reservoir by controlling the venting.

WO/2010/113558 S. Watanabe

7 October 2010

Filled fluoro-resin sheet

Applicant: Nippon ValquaIndustries Ltd, Japan A filled fluoro-resin sheet that has excel-lent stress relaxation properties – especially at high temperatures – has been developed. The sheet is composed of a fluoro-resin and an inorganic filler that has a corrected

Mohs hardness of 8 or higher. The ratio of the fluoro-resin to the filler is (30–55%)/(70–45%) by volume.Patent number: WO/2010/113769Inventor: S. KurokawaPublication date: 7 October 2010

Bellows-type mechanical seal

Applicant: Eagle IndustryCo Ltd, Japan A metal bellows, mechanical seal, with station-ary bellows is described. A support ring that consists of a series of detents is used to assist with aligning the stationary seal ring. Patent number: WO/2010/113932Inventor: H. TakahashiPublication date: 7 October 2010

Threaded joint for pipes

Applicant: Sumitomo MetalIndustries Ltd, Japan A solid, lubricating coating that is designed to be applied to down-hole, screwed pipe connec-tions is described. It has a matrix that includes a lubricating oil-containing polymer. This poly-mer has either a uniform composition or a gra-dient composition, in which the concentration of lubricating oil decreases towards the contact surface. There may be substantially no lubricat-ing oil in the vicinity of the contact surface.Patent number: WO/2010/114168Inventors: T. Kuranishi, K. Gotoand K. MatsumotoPublication date: 7 October 2010

PATENTS

February 2011 Sealing Technology15

Patent WO/2010/113932 provides details of a bellows-type mechanical seal. A metal bellows seal with an aligning feature for the stationary seal element (top), and an example of the ring used to centre the seal (bottom), are shown in the diagrams above.