GB645417A - Improvements in or relating to rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

645,417. Rotary regenerative heat-exchangers. POWER JETS (RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT), Ltd. Dec. 12, 1947, No. 32770. [Class 64(i)] In a rotary matrix type regenerative heat-exchanger in which the rotary matrix drum 1 is housed within a casing 3 through which hot and cold fluids 4, 5, flow so that as the drum rotates the matrix receives heat from one fluid and imparts heat to the other fluid, the drum has an end bearing 2, the relatively moving parts of which are spaced away from both the drum and the casing structures by axially extending annular walls 7, 9, 10, concentric with the axis of the drum, the cross-section of the walls forming the sole heat-transmission path from the drum and the casing to the bearing. The annular walls 7, 9 associated with the casing structure may be united at their ends by a wall 8 to form an annular chamber 11 of substantial depth, the open side being closed by the rim of the matrix drum. Cooling air may, if necessary, be circulated through the chamber 11. At one or more circumferential positions in the chamber 11, a pinion may be accommodated which meshes with and may drive or be driven by a gear ring provided on the annulus 10. In this form of apparatus the casing structure also includes a substantially closed annular chamber within the chamber 11 which at its lower part may act as an oil well in which a loose pinion may be arranged to pick up oil and transfer it to the gear ring and to the adjacent bearing.' The inner wall 7 at one end of the apparatus may be slidably supported on studs to allow for relative axial expansion.