Flexible seal for a rotary regenerative preheater

A preheater assembly comprising:

• a rotor assembly rotatably mounted on a rotor post and disposed in a housing, the rotor assembly defining pairs of diaphragms extending radially from the rotor post to an outer periphery of the rotor assembly, adjacent pairs of the diaphragms defining respective compartments for receiving a heat transfer assembly, each of the heat transfer assemblies including a plurality of a heat transfer sheets stacked upon one another, the housing including a flue gas inlet duct and a flue gas outlet duct for channeling the flow of heated flue gases through the preheater, the housing including an air inlet duct and an air outlet duct for channeling the flow of combustion air through the preheater, the preheater including an upper sector plate extending across the housing adjacent to an upper face of the rotor assembly and a lower sector plate extending across the housing adjacent to lower face of the rotor assembly, the upper sector plate extends between and is joined to the flue gas inlet duct and the air outlet duct, the lower sector plate extends between and is joined to the flue gas outlet duct and the air inlet duct, the upper and lower sector plates, respectively, are joined to one another by a circumferential plate;
• at least one of the upper sector plate and the lower sector plate defining a leading edge and a trailing edge, and wherein at least one of the leading edge and the trailing edge defines a ramped configuration;
• and
• a seal assembly for a rotary preheater, the seal assembly comprising:
• a leaf assembly comprising:
• a first leaf having a first base section, the first base section defining a first fastening area for securing the first leaf to a diaphragm of the preheater, the first leaf having a first elongate section extending away from the first base section and terminating at a first distal end of the first leaf;
• a second leaf having a second base section, the second base section defining a second fastening area for securing the second leaf to the diaphragm, the second leaf having a second elongate section extending away from the second base section and terminating at a second distal end of the second leaf;
• wherein the second leaf engages a portion of the first leaf, and in that a supplemental leaf assembly is secured to the first leaf and slidingly engages the second leaf;
• the seal assembly being positioned on an axial edge of each diaphragm;
• and
• wherein a portion of the seal assembly engages the leading edge and disengages the trailing edge.