Riffle distributor assembly for a fossil fuel fired combustion arrangement

A riffle distributor assembly for delivering pulverized solid fuel from an exhauster having a downstream open end to a pair of branch ducts each having an upstream end for distribution to at least a pair of burners mounted in a combustion vessel in order that the pulverized solid fuel can be combusted in a combustion process in the combustion vessel, said riffle distributor assembly comprising:

• a plenum forming an enclosed space extending from the downstream open end of the exhauster to the upstream end of each of the pair of branch ducts;
• a plurality of riffle element plates supported within said plenum, each of said plurality of riffle elements having an intake opening;
• each intake opening of each of said plurality of riffle element plates being formed by a vane subassembly;
• said vane subassembly including a parallelepiped frame and a plurality of intake vanes;
• said parallelepiped frame having a first side panel and a second side panel;
• each of said plurality of intake vanes having a first side and a second side, and each of said plurality of intake vanes being pivotally connected by a pivot connection to a respective one of said plurality of riffle element plates;
• a slide drive slidably supported for sliding movement of said slide drive in a first direction, said slide drive including a plurality of cut-outs;
• said first side of each of said plurality of intake vanes being pivotally mounted at a respective pivot location to said slide drive such that a portion of each of said plurality of intake vanes extends into a respective one of said plurality of cut-outs;
• said respective pivot location at which each of said plurality of intake vanes is pivotally mounted to said slide drive is spaced in a second direction from the respective pivot connection at which each of said plurality of intake vanes is pivotally connected to the respective one of said plurality of riffle element plates;
• and
• said second side of each of said plurality of intake vanes being pivotally mounted to a respective pivot bore formed in a first side panel of said parallelepiped frame.