ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,631,246, issued on May 19, was assigned to ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG (Friedrichshafen, Germany) and ZF WIND POWER ANTWERPEN N.V. (Lommel, Belgium).
"Inflatable mounting seal" was invented by Wim De Laet (Antwerp, Belgium), Witikind Van Ouytsel (Friedrichshafen, Germany) and Andries Boonen (Friedrichshafen, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An arrangement including a gearbox and a seal. The gearbox has a housing and at least one means arranged at least partially in the interior of the housing. The seal is filled with an over-pressurized fluid. The seal is braced by the overpressure in a gap running between the means and the housing."
The...