Claims
- 1. A self-grounding connector for joining end portions of fluid flow conduit sections, said connector comprising:
a hollow resinous body having inner and outer surfaces determining a preselected thickness, and incorporating highly electrically conductive first and second materials which dissipate and self-ground electrostatic charge accumulating, respectively, on said inner and outer surfaces.
- 2. The connector of claim 1 wherein said first material comprises at least one carbon ribbon having a multiplicity of carbon fiber-filaments.
- 3. The connector of claim 2 wherein each ribbon is helically disposed within said resinous body.
- 4. The connector of claim 3 wherein each carbon ribbon has been saturated with an admixture of a settable chemically resistant resin and a curing agent therefor.
- 5. The connector of claim 1 wherein said first material comprises carbon cloth.
- 6. The connector of claim 5 wherein said cloth has been saturated with an admixture of a settable chemically resistant resin and a curing agent therefor.
- 7. The connector of claim 4 or 6 wherein said resin is a halogenated epoxy vinyl ester resin.
- 8. The connector of claim 4 or 6 wherein said resin is an unhalogenated epoxy vinyl ester resin.
- 9. The connector of claim 2 or 5 wherein said conductive second material comprises a multiplicity of chopped carbon fibers.
- 10. The connector of claim 9 wherein said fibers are manufactured from polyacrylonitrile precursor.
- 11. The connector of claim 10 wherein said fibers determine a layer of a preselected thickness terminating in said body outer surface.
- 12. The connector of claim 11 wherein a layer of surfacing veil of a preselected thickness underlies and is contiguous to said fibers layer.
- 13. The connector of claim 12 wherein said body outer surface is provided with a centrally disposed, circumferential highly electrically conductive bead for aligning thereon end portions of fluid flow conduit sections.
- 14. The connector of claim 13 wherein said bead comprises a multiplicity of ribbon-layers of at least one carbon ribbon.
- 15. A process for making a self-grounding connector for joining end portions of fluid flow conduit sections, comprising the steps of:
covering a mandrel with a non-sticking material; forming over said material a first layer using a first conductive material and a fluidic admixture; forming over the first layer a second layer using a second conductive material and the fluidic admixture; and removing the formed first and second layers from the mandrel to form the self-grounding connector.
- 16. The process of claim 15 wherein:
said first conductive material comprises carbon filaments; said fluidic admixture comprises a settable chemically resistant resin and a curing agent therefor; and said second material comprises carbon fibers.
- 17. The process of claim 15 wherein:
said first conductive material comprises carbon cloth; said fluidic admixture comprises a settable chemically resistant resin and a curing agent therefor; and said second material comprises carbon fibers.
- 18. A process for making a self-grounding connector for joining end portions of fluid flow conduit sections, comprising the steps of:
forming a fluidic admixture of a settable chemically resistant resin and a curing agent therefor in a preselected percentage-by-weight, relative to the weight of the resin, as a supply source of the same; evenly coating a sheeting made of a non-sticking material and covering a generally horizontal mandrel with a first layer of said fluidic admixture, said layer having an interior surface contiguous to the sheeting and an exterior surface, the interior and exterior surfaces determining a preselected layer thickness, the mandrel symmetric about a longitudinal axis; helically winding around the sheeting, at a preselected angle relative to the mandrel longitudinal axis, a carbon band of a preselected width comprising a plurality of electrically conductive, continuous ribbons each having a multiplicity of continuous longitudinal carbon filaments impregnated with said fluidic admixture, said ribbons having a common preselected width determined by opposed generally parallel edges and a preselected thickness, and disposed contiguously edge-to-edge, said carbon band wound in a plurality of helical segments forming a ribbon-layer covering and embedded in said first layer of said fluidic admixture and integrated with said interior surface, said ribbon-layer in a preselected percentage-by-weight relative to the weight of said fluidic admixture; evenly coating said ribbon-layer with a second layer of said fluidic admixture of a preselected thickness, thereby forming an outer surface; helically winding a layer of surfacing veil having an outer surface and a preselected thickness and wetted out with said fluidic admixture, around said second layer outer surface; evenly coating said veil outer surface with a third layer of said fluidic admixture of a preselected thickness; depositing a multiplicity of chopped carbon fibers onto and into said third admixture layer, covering said veil outer surface; and integrating said fibers and third admixture layer thereby determining a substantially homogeneous layer of wetted out fibers of a preselected thickness terminating in a generally smooth outer surface.
- 19. The process of claim 18 wherein:
the thickness of each of said first and second fluidic admixture layers is in a range from 0.002- to 0.003-inch, and the thickness of said third fluidic admixture layer is about 0.010-inch; said preselected angle is in a range from about 55 to about 72 degrees; the percentage-by-weight of said ribbon-layer is in a range from about 50 to about 70 percent, and the percentage-by-weight of said first fluidic admixture layer is in a range from about 30 to about 50 percent; the thickness of said ribbon-layer is a range from 0.015- to 0.035-inch; said surfacing veil layer is glass C-veil about 0.010-inch in thickness; and the thickness of said layer of wetted out carbon fibers is about 0.010-inch.
- 20. A process for making a self-grounding connector for joining end portions of fluid flow conduit sections, comprising the steps of:
forming a fluidic admixture of a settable chemically resistant resin and a curing agent therefor in a preselected percentage-by-weight, relative to the weight of the resin, as a supply source of the same; evenly coating a sheeting made of a non-sticking material and covering a generally horizontal mandrel with a first layer of said fluidic admixture, said layer having an interior surface contiguous to the sheeting and an exterior surface, the interior and exterior surfaces determining a preselected layer thickness, the mandrel symmetric about a longitudinal axis; helically winding around the sheeting a layer of carbon cloth having an outer surface and a preselected thickness and wetted out with said fluidic admixture; curing said first admixture layer and wetted out carbon cloth; covering, to a preselected thickness, said carbon cloth outer surface with a layer of putty comprising a settable resin and a curing agent therefor, chopped carbon fibers, and fumed silica; helically winding around the carbon cloth and into the still-soft putty a layer of surfacing veil of a preselected thickness and having an outer surface; curing the putty; evenly coating said veil outer surface with a second layer of said fluidic admixture of a preselected thickness; depositing a multiplicity of chopped carbon fibers onto and into said second admixture layer, covering said veil outer surface; and integrating said fibers and second admixture layer thereby determining a substantially homogeneous layer of wetted out fibers of a preselected thickness terminating in a generally smooth outer surface.
- 21. The process of claim 20 wherein said putty comprises:
vinyl ester resin and benzoyl peroxide curing agent; chopped carbon fibers in a percentage-by-weight range of 1 to 20 percent; and fumed silica in a percentage-by-weight range of 3 to 10 percent.
- 22. The process of claim 20 wherein said putty comprises:
epoxy resin and amine curing agent; chopped carbon fibers in a percentage-by-weight range of 1 to 20 percent; and fumed silica in a percentage-by-weight range of 3 to 10 percent.
- 23. The process of claim 21 or 22 wherein:
the thickness of said first fluidic admixture layer is in a range from 0.002- to 0.003-inch, and the thickness of said second fluidic admixture layer is about 0.010 -inch; said carbon cloth is carbon boat cloth having a thickness about 0.010 -inch; the thickness of said putty layer is about 0.010-inch; said surfacing veil layer is glass C-veil about 0.010-inch in thickness; and the thickness of said carbon fibers layer is about 0.010-inch.
- 24. The process of claim 18 or 20, further comprising the step of winding around said fibers outer surface, at a preselected position along and orthogonal to the mandrel longitudinal axis, a carbon band of a preselected width comprising at least one electrically conductive, continuous ribbon having a multiplicity of continuous longitudinal carbon filaments impregnated with said fluidic admixture, thereby depositing a multiplicity of ribbon-layers forming a circumferential bead of a preselected height.
- 25. The process of claim 24 wherein said bead height is in a range from 0.187- to 0.125-inch.
- 26. The process of claim 18 or 20, wherein said chemically resistant resin is a halogenated epoxy vinyl ester resin.
- 27. The process of claim 18 or 20, wherein said chemically resistant resin is an unhalogenated epoxy vinyl ester resin.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/882,683 filed Jun. 18, 2001 and published as Ser. No. 2002/0017333 A1, entitled “Electrostatic Charge Neutralizing Fume Duct With Continuous Carbon Fiber,” now pending.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09882683 |
Jun 2001 |
US |
Child |
10217832 |
Aug 2002 |
US |