Exhaust pipe flange ring gasket

摘要

An improved exhaust pipe flange ring gasket is principally defined by a pair of mating exhaust pipe flanges. One of the flanges has an annular groove extending in the one of the mating flanges. One or more metal Belleville spring washers or wave spring washers are wrapped within a stainless cover to define a hoop-style spring ring disposed within the groove. The metal washer replaces a traditional spiral wound core or graphite filler that tends to oxidize at high operating temperatures; such oxidation adversely affects sealing performance. Conversely, the washer, which can be either a Belleville or wave spring, is comprised of a hard stainless steel that will not oxidize at high operating temperatures. Gasket sealing performance is vastly improved, even though the Belleville or wave spring washer is relatively inexpensive. The Belleville or wave spring washer provides relatively stiff spring resilience to accommodate deflection along its axial compressive direction.