SPRING ASSEMBLY FOR FLOATING SEAT RING

摘要

A spring assembly (56) for a floating seat ring (40) to urge the seat ring into sealing engagement with the movable valve member. The seat ring (40) is mounted in an enlarged bore portion at the valve chamber and has an annular rear face (52) in opposed relation to a shoulder defined by the enlarged bore portion. The improved spring assembly (56) is mounted in the spring pocket formed between the rear face (52) and the shoulder and has a plurality of undulated annular wave springs (58,60) about the seat ring (40). Each pair of contiguous wave springs (58,60) is staggered so that the front nodes of one wave spring in each contiguous pair is in opposed contact relation to the rear nodes of the other wave spring of each contiguous pair. A flat portion (44A) on the outer circumference of the seat ring (40) is in nested relation to a cooperating flat portion (64) on the inner circumference (62) of the wave spring (58,60) to maintain the wave spring (58,60) in an oriented staggered relation.