摘要 |
<p>A rotary regenerative air preheater (10) having a rotor (14) mounted to a central rotor post (16) for rotation within a surrounding housing (12) whereby heat absorbent material carried in the rotor (14) is alternately exposed to a flow of heating gas and a gas to be heated. A radial seal assembly (42, 421) including a flexible sealing strip (74) is mounted to the hot end edge of each radially extending partition of the rotor (14) to establish a seal between the partitions and the confronting face of the sector plate of the housing (12) as the rotor (14) is rotated. The flexible sealing strip (74) has a tapered configuration such that the distal edge (80) of the sealing strip (74) and the confronting face of the sector plate (20, 22, 24) define a controlled radially extending gap (86) when the air preheater (10) is in a hot-operating condition. A protective tip (106) is mounted on the distal edge (80) of the flexible sealing strip (74) to prevent premature failure due to edge fracturing. The rigid back support leaf (58) biases the flexible sealing strip (74), pretensioning the flexible sealing strip (74) to eliminate gapping due to gas-air pressure differentials.</p> |