Gasket with electrical isolating coatings

Abstract

An electrically isolating gasket is disclosed wherein a coating layer is disposed on at least one surface, and in some embodiments, on all surfaces, of the disc-shaped core gasket component of the electrically isolating gasket. The core gasket component can be made of a metallic material and may include one or more grooves in each axial surface of the core gasket component. When the core gasket component includes such grooves, the coating can be applied to all surfaces of the grooves as well as all other surfaces of the core gasket component so that the coating encapsulates the core gasket component. The coating layer can be, for example, polyimide, polyamide, ceramic, and aluminum oxide.

I/We claim: 
     
         1 . An electrically isolating gasket comprising:
 a metallic core gasket component, the core gasket component having a disc shape and including one or more grooves formed in an axial face of the metallic core gasket component; and   a coating formed on one or more surfaces of the metallic core gasket component, the coating comprising a dielectric material;   wherein the coating is provided on at least one surface of the one or more grooves.   
     
     
         2 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 1 , wherein the core gasket component is made from stainless steel. 
     
     
         3 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 1 , wherein the coating material is selected from the group consisting of polyimide, polyamide, ceramic, and aluminum oxide. 
     
     
         4 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 3 , wherein the coating material is polyimide. 
     
     
         5 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 1 , wherein all surfaces of the one or more grooves are coated by the coating. 
     
     
         6 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 1 , wherein all surfaces of the core gasket component are coated by the coating. 
     
     
         7 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 6 , wherein the coating has a uniform thickness. 
     
     
         8 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 7 , wherein the thickness is less than 6 mm. 
     
     
         9 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 7 , wherein the thickness is less than 0.381 mm. 
     
     
         10 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 7 , wherein the thickness is less than 0.127 mm. 
     
     
         11 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 1 , wherein the core gasket component includes a radially outer groove and a radially inner groove in a first axial surface of the core gasket component, and a radially outer groove and a radially inner groove in the second axial surface of the core gasket component, wherein the grooves in the first axial surface are concentrically aligned and the grooves in the second axial surface are concentrically aligned. 
     
     
         12 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 11 , wherein the diameter of the radially outer groove in the first axial surface is equal to the diameter of the radially outer groove in the second axial surface, and the diameter of the radially inner groove in the first axial surface is equal to the diameter of the radially inner groove in the second axial surface. 
     
     
         13 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 12 , wherein a sealing mechanism is disposed in each of the radially outer groove in the first axial surface and the radially outer groove of in the second axial surface. 
     
     
         14 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 13 , wherein the radially outer groove in the first axial surface and the radially outer groove in the second axial surface are each sized and dimensioned such that the sealing mechanism disposed therein occupies all of the groove. 
     
     
         15 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 13 , wherein the sealing mechanism is selected from one of an E-ring, a C-ring, an O-ring and a spiral wound-type seal. 
     
     
         16 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 11 , wherein a lip seal is disposed in each of the radially inner grooves in the first axial surface and the radially inner groove of the second axial surface. 
     
     
         17 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 6 , wherein the thickness of the coating on the surfaces of the grooves is less than the thickness of the coating on the other surfaces of the core gasket component. 
     
     
         18 . The electrically isolating gasket of  claim 1 , wherein the electrically isolating gasket is a glass reinforced epoxy-free electrically isolating gasket. 
     
     
         19 . A method of manufacturing an electrically isolating gasket comprising:
 coating every surface of a disc-shaped core gasket component with a liquid coating; and   continuously curing the liquid coating to hard the liquid coating and secure the coating to the disc-shaped gasket component.   
     
     
         20 . The method of manufacturing an electrically isolating gasket of  claim 18 , wherein continuously curing the liquid coating comprising continuously exposing the liquid coating to infrared radiation.