US3155152A

US3155152A - Rotor structure for rotary regenerative heat exchanger

Info

Publication number: US3155152A
Application number: US198161A
Authority: US
Inventors: Conde James
Original assignee: Combustion Engineering Inc
Current assignee: Combustion Engineering Inc
Priority date: 1962-05-28
Filing date: 1962-05-28
Publication date: 1964-11-03
Anticipated expiration: 1981-11-03
Also published as: DE1255681B; GB1046106A

Description

J- CONDE Nov. 3, 1964 ROTOR STRUCTURE FOR ROTARY REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGER Filed May 28 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Jame; Co/roe Nov. 3, 1964 J. CONDE 3,155,152

ROTOR STRUCTURE FOR ROTARY REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGER Filed May 28, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Y 9/77e5 Cone e B United States Patent 3,155,152 ROTOR STRUCTURE FOR RQTARY REGENERA- TI'VE HEAT EXCHANGER James ond, Wellsviile, N.Y., assignor to Combustion Engineering, Inc, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 28, 1962, Ser. No. 198,161 9 Claims. (Cl. 165-7) This invention relates to heat exchange apparatus of the rotary regenerative type that is adapted to continuously transfer heat from a stream of heating fluid to an independent fluid to be heated. More particularly, this invention relates to heat exchange apparatus that is not adversely affected by thermal deformation of its relatively rotating parts.

In rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus of the type referred to, a cylindrical rotor carrying compartment of heat absorbent material is first exposed to a flow of heating fluid such as hot exhaust gas that is directed through a limited portion of the rotor. Upon rotating the rotor about its axis, the heated heat absorbent material is positioned in the path of a relatively cool fluid to be heated such as air whereby the heat of the gas may be transferred thereto. The rotor is surrounded by a housing formed with openings at spaced ends that simultaneously direct the heating fluid and the fluid to be heated through spaced compartments of the rotor.

Heat exchange apparatus of this type is eflicient and is widely used for applications operating at modest temperature levels that may range, for example, up to 1000 F. For temperatures that exceed this approximate limit, however thermal distortion of the rotor and rotor housing becomes excessive and it becomes increasingly diflicult if not impossible to maintain any semblance of a sealing relationship between the relatively rotatable parts of the apparatus. Furthermore, heat from the rotor is conducted through its support structure to its support and guide hearings to the extent that bearing life is substantially reduced and maintenance costs are correspondingly increased.

This invention is therefore directed to a novel rotor arrangement that precludes excessive thermal deformation of the rotor throughout wide ranges of temperature variation. The invention further provides a novel rotor arrangement that isolates bearing structure at spaced ends of the rotor from the deleterious eifects of excessive heat.

These and other objects of this invention will be better understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment thereof when read in conjunction with the following drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional elevation of the heat exchanger made in accordance with the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view on line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the post shell and its means of support.

As will be apparent from the figures of the drawing, the arrangement shown relates generally to a rotary regenerative heat exchanger of the Ljungstrom type having a rotor divided into sector-shaped compartments by radial partitions in order that a mass of heat absorbent material may be suitably housed therein. The rotor is surrounded by a rotor housing having inlet and outlet openings at opposite ends thereof for the counter-current flow of a heating fluid and a fluid to be heated. The inlet for the heating fluid is at the lower end of the rotor while the inlet for the cooler fluid to be heated is at its upper end to thus position the hot end of the rotor at the bottom while the cold end lies at the top end of a vertical rotor shaft. It will be apparent that the cold or upper end of the rotor will be subjected to less thermal distortion than the 3,155,152 Patented Nov. 3, 1964 bottom or hot end of the rotor that lies in the zone of maximum temperature variation.

According to the invention a rotor shaft It is supported at its upper or cold end by a support bearing 12 mounted on an independent support beam 14. Similarly a guide bearing 16 carried by a secondary beam 18 is suspended by rods 22 from the support beam 14 at the cold end of the heat exchanger.

A post shell 24 concentrically surrounds the rotor shaft at its upper end or cold end in spaced relationship and is secured thereto by a series of tangential support ribs 26 that are adapted to flex laterally to compensate for a growth in diameter of the post shell 24. A series of radial partitions or diaphragms 23 extend radially outward from the post shell 24 to a concentric rotor shell 32 to provide a series of sectorial compartments 34 that are each adapted to carry a mass of heat absorbent material through which the heating fluid and the fluid to be heated are alternately directed as the rotor is rotated about its axis by any of a variety of motive arrangements not here illustrated.

The fixed radial partitions 23 are positioned only at the cold end of the rotor between the post shell and rotor shell. Dependent partitions 33 are pivotally linked at 35 to the fixed partitions, and sized to extend axially through the cold end of the rotor in radial alignment with the fixed load carrying partitions 28. The dependent partitions 33 loosely abut the inner surface of the rotor shell at their outermost ends while their radially inner ends similarly abut a cylindrical jacket 36 that is supported by flange 37 and comprises a continuation for the post shell 24 that is arranged to provide a space 38 through which air may flow. Axially disposed channel members 42 are paired in radial alignment on the cylindrical jacket 36 and the rotor shell 32 to provide holding slots for the end edges of the dependent partitions 33 to preclude their lateral displacement due to pressure differences in adjacent rotor compartments. The channel members 42 thus provide a basic sealing function that cooperates With inter-partition seals 44 and radial seals 46 to limit fluid leakage between adjacent rotor compartments. Circumferential seals 48 around the end edges of the rotor confront imperforate portions of the adjacent housing structure to preclude fluid by-passing the rotor and flowing through the annular space between the rotor shell and the rotor housing.

The housing 52 that surrounds the rotor includes inlet and

outlet ducts

54 and 56 for a heating fluid and spaced ducts 5S and 62 for the fluid to be heated. The cold end ducts 56 and 58 are suspended by means 64 directly from the main beam 14, while the

hot end ducts

54 and 62 are carried by supports 66 which are in turn suspended from the main support beam 14 by rods 22 and secondary beam 18.

To further isolate the rotor shaft from the heat of the rotor, the cylindrical surface of the post shell and the aligned cylindrical jacket are provided with a layer of thermal insulating material 68, the inner surface of which comprises the surface of a cooling duct that surrounds the rotor shaft it whereby a flow of cooling air induced by natural circulation may course through the duct and carry away heat which may pass through the insulation material 68.

By the arrangement of this invention, high temperature which could adversely atfect the rotor shaft, support beams and support bearing, are substantially isolated therefrom. Moreover, the rotor is attached to the rotor shaft only at its cold end where thermal distortion that does occur is at a minimum and where a unique arrangement of support ribs permits slight variations in their shape to compensate for any thermal deformation of rotor structure connected thereto.

While this invention has thus been described with refer- I once to the embodiment illustrated in the drawing, it is evident that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. Rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus having a rotor including a cylindrical shell joined to a rotor post by radial partitions to provide a series of sectorshaped compartments that carry a mass of heat exchange material, a housing surrounding the rotor provided at opposite ends with inlet and outlet ports for a heating fluid and fluid to be heated, said rotor post comprising a central support shaft and a shaft shell extending concentrically between the rotor shell and rotor shaft, and a plurality of support ribs extending tangentially from the support shaft to the post shell arranged to permit lateral flexing of the ribs to compensate for radial expansion of the post shell.

2. Rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus comprising a rotor having a cylindrical shell joined to a rotor post by radial partitions to provide a series of sectorshaped compartments that carry a mass of heat exchange material, a housing surrounding the rotor provided at op posite ends with inlet and outlet ports for a heating fluid and a fluid to be heated, said rotor post comprising a central support shaft and a shaft shell extending concentrically between the rotor shell and rotor shaft, and a plurality of support ribs extending tangentially from the support shaft to be post shell at the end of the rotor adjacent the inlet for the fluid to be heated arranged to provide support means that flex laterally to provide a continuous support that compensates for radial expansion of the post shell.

3. Rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus having a rotor including a cylindrical rotor shell joined to a rotor post by fixed radial partitions to provide a series of fixed sector-shaped compartments that carry a mass of heat exchange material, a housing surrounding the rotor provided at opposite ends with inlet and outlet ports for a heating fluid and a fluid to be heated, said rotor post comprising a central support shaft and a shaft shell extending concentrically between the rotor shell and rotor shaft a distance less than the length of said central shaft, and a plurality of support ribs extending tangentially from the support shaft to the post shell arranged to provide a series of rotor supports that flex laterally to compensate for radial expansion of the post shell.

4. Heat exchange apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein the shaft shell lies at the end of the rotor adjacent the inlet for the fluid to be heated.

5. Heat exchange apparatus as defined in claim 3 4 wherein the shaft shell extends axially a distance less than one-half the length of the rotor shell.

6. Heat exchange apparatus as defined in claim 3 having a dependent partition suspended from each radial partition and a cylindrical jacket suspended from said shaft shell arranged to provide movable walls for the ends of said compartments that lie adjacent to the inlet ports for the heating fluid.

7. Rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus having a rotor including a rotor shell, a central rotor shaft, a shaft shell extending concentrically between the rotor shell and rotor shaft a distance substantially less than the length of said rotor shell, a plurality of support ribs extending tangentially from the rotor shaft to the shaft shell, a series of partitions extending radially between the shaft shell and rotor shell to provide a series of sector-shaped compartments therebetween, said partitions being divided axially to provide fixed support partitions and dependent partitions subjacent thereto, said support partitions being fixedly secured at radially opposite ends to the shaft shell and rotor shell while the dependent partitions are pivotally linked to the support partitions and arranged to slidably abut the rotor shell on their outboard ends to permit relative movement therebetween.

8. Rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus having a rotor including a cylindrical rotor shell, a central rotor shaft, a shaft shell extending concentrically between the rotor shell and rotor shaft a distance substantially less than the length of said rotor shell, a plurality of support ribs extending tangentially from the rotor shaft to the post shell, a cylindrical jacket in axial alignment with the post shell and supported thereby, a series of partitions extending radially between the shaft shell and the rotor shell to provide a series of sectorial compartments therebetween, said partitions being axially divided to provide a support partition and a dependent partition subjace'nt thereto, said support partition being fixedly secured at radially opposite ends to the shaft shell and the rotor shell while the dependent partition is pivotally carried by the support partition and is adapted to slidably abut the rotor shell and the cylindrical jacket at its radial ends to permit relative movement therebetween.

9. Rotary regenerative heat exchange apparatus as defined in claim 8 including an annular layer of thermal insulating material arranged to abut the surface of the shaft shell and the cylindrical duct to preclude the conduction of heat from the compartments of the rotor to the central rotor shaft.

Hennig May 6, 1947 Theoclitus Apr. 23, 1957

Claims

8. ROTARY REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGE APPARATUS HAVING A ROTOR INCLUDING A CYLINDRICAL ROTOR SHELL, A CENTRAL ROTOR SHAFT, A SHAFT SHELL EXTENDING CONCENTRICALLY BETWEEN THE ROTOR SHELL AND ROTOR SHAFT A DISTANCE SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN THE LENGTH OF SAID ROTOR SHELL, A PLURALITY OF SUPPORT RIBS EXTENDING TANGENTIALLY FROM THE ROTOR SHAFT TO THE POST SHELL, A CYLINDRICAL JACKET IN AXIAL ALIGNMENT WITH THE POST SHELL AND SUPPORTED THEREBY, A SERIES OF PARTITIONS EXTENDING RADIALLY BETWEEN THE SHAFT SHELL AND THE ROTOR SHELL TO PROVIDE A SERIES OF SECTORIAL COMPARTMENTS THEREBETWEEN, SAID PARTITIONS BEING AXIALLY DIVIDED TO PROVIDE A SUPPORT PARTITION AND A DEPENDENT PARTITION SUBJACENT THERETO, SAID SUPPORT PARTITION BEING FIXEDLY SECURED AT RADIALLY OPPOSITE ENDS TO THE SHAFT SHELL AND THE ROTOR SHELL WHILE THE DEPENDENT PARTITION IS PIVOTALLY CARRIED BY THE SUPPORT PARTITION AND IS ADAPTED TO SLIDABLY ABUT THE ROTOR SHELL AND THE CYLINDRICAL JACKET AT ITS RADIAL ENDS TO PERMIT RELATIVE MOVEMENT THEREBETWEEN.