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US 6,581,676 B2Granted
Rotor design with double seals for vertical air preheaters
AssigneeABB Alstom Power Inc.
InventorsKurt M. Fierle, Lawrence J. Muscato
Life of this patent
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AssigneeABB Alstom Power Inc.
InventorsKurt M. Fierle, Lawrence J. Muscato
Estimating the term…
A method for adding additional axial seals and radial seals within existing air preheaters. The installed heat transfer baskets, radial seals, axial seals, and gratings are all removed from the air preheater. The existing stay plates are modified, if they are to be reused, or replaced with new stay plates. An intermediate diaphragm plate is positioned in each original compartment and mounted to the stay plates. Additional hot and cold end axial seal support bars are mounted to the rotor shell and intermediate diaphragm plate. Axial seals are installed on the original and additional axial seal support bars and radial seals are installed on the axial edges of the original and intermediate diaphragm plates. Finally, new heat transfer baskets are inserted into each of the compartments formed by the original diaphragm plates, the intermediate diaphragm plates, and the rotor shell.
A retrofit seal kit for use with an existing horizontal air preheater having a post, a rotor housing including a plurality of axial seal plates, sector plates on both axial ends of said air preheater, and a rotor located in said rotor housing and rotatable around said post, said rotor having a plurality of radially extending original diaphragm plates, a plurality of original radial seals, a plurality of original axial seal support bars, a plurality of original axial seals, a plurality of inner stay plates, a plurality of plenum seals, and a rotor shell, said original diaphragm plates forming compartments in said rotor, said rotor shell defining an outboard surface of said compartments, an original radial seal extending from each axial edge of each of said original diaphragm plates, an original axial seal support bar mounted to an outboard radial edge of each of said original diaphragm plates, an original axial seal extending from each of said original support bars, a plurality of inner stay plates, each of said stay plates being disposed in a compartment of said rotor intermediate said post and said rotor shell, said original diaphragm plates and said original radial seals extending from said post to said rotor shell, each of said original radial seals having an inboard portion extending from said post to said stay plates and an outboard portion extending from said stay plates to said rotor shell, said inboard portions of said original radial seals defining a single seal plenum, each of said plenum seals extending from one of said original radial seals to an adjacent one of said original radial seals, the seal kit comprising:
An improvement for an existing horizontal air preheater having a post, a rotor housing including a plurality of axial seal plates, sector plates on both axial ends of said air preheater, and a rotor located in said rotor housing and rotatable around said post, said rotor having a plurality of radially extending original diaphragm plates forming compartments in said rotor, a plurality of heat exchange baskets stored in said compartments, a plurality of gratings or stay plates mounted within said compartments for mounting said baskets, an original radial seal extending from each axial edge of each of said original diaphragm plates, and an original axial seal extending from an outboard radial edge of each of said original diaphragm plates, said improvement comprising an intermediate diaphragm plate mounted between each of said original diaphragm plates, an additional axial seal extending from an outboard radial edge of each of said intermediate diaphragm plates, and an additional radial seal extending from each axial edge of each of said intermediate diaphragm plates.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.