Clearance sealing arrangement for jet thrust deflection equipment

Claim 1

A sealing arrangement for sealing the clearance between the outlet end of a rigidly mounted jet pipe and another pipe section tiltable three-dimensionally with respect to the rigidly mounted pipe, the two pipes being interconnected by a formation on one of the pipes having a ball socket-like inner surface, the sealing arrangement comprising: (a) a ring-shaped seal support on the pipe not having the ball socket-like formation, the seal support being coaxial with its respective pipe, and the seal support opening toward the ball socket-like inner surface and having a base opposite the opening, (b) a sealing ring accommodated within the seal support so as to be movable axially and radially therein, the sealing ring being formed of segments which overlap one another in the circumferential and axial directions, and the sealing ring protruding from the opening in the seal support, (c) a flat spring between the sealing ring and seal support base, the spring being corrugated in the circumferential direction and being tangent alternately to the seal support base and to the sealing ring, (d) internal pressure in the pipes, when the jet engine is running, pressing the segments of the sealing ring against both the ball socket-like inner surface and a wall of the seal support, and (e) pressure equalizing pockets in the wall of the seal support against which the seal is pressed.