Radial flow rotary regenerative heater

Claim 1

A REGENERATIVE PREHEATER FOR THE EXCHANGE OF HEAT BETWEEN A FIRST FLUID AND A SECOND FLUID COMPRISING: A RING-SHAPED PERMEABLE MATRIX HAVING AN INNER SURFACE AND AN OUTER SURFACE WITH EQUALLY-SPACED REGENERATIVE ELEMENTS RADIALLY PLACED BETWEEN SAID SURFACES SO AS TO FORM A RADIAL PASSAGEWAY BETWEEN SAID ELEMENTS, SAID ELEMETNS BEING DIVERGENTLY SHAPED SO THAT THE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF THE PASSAGEWAY BETWEEN TWO CONTIGUOUS REGENERATIVE ELEMETNS REMAINS APPROXIMATELY CONSTANT AS THE ELEMENTS RADIALLY CONVERGE, ENCLOSING MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE ESCAPE OF FLUID TO THE OUTSIDE ATMOSPHERE, SAID ENCLOSING MEANS INCLUDING RADIAL SEALS AND CIRCUMFERENTIAL SEALS, A SHAFT SUPPORTING SAID MATRIX, A PARTITION WITHIN THE SPACE DEFINED BY SAID INNER SURFACE FOR SEPARATING SAID SPACE INTO A FIRST COMPARTMENT AND A SECOND COMPARTMENT, A FIRST INLET DUCT INWARD FOR INTRODUCING A FIRST FLUID SAGEWEAY RADIALLY INWARD FOR INTRODUCING A FIRST FLUID THROUGH SAID MATRIX INTO SAID FIRST COMPARTMENT, A FIRST OUTLET DUCT DEFINING A CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF PAS SAGEWAY RADIALLY OUTWARD FOR REMOVING SAID FIRST FLUID THROUGH SAID MATRIX FROM SAID FIRST COMPARTMENT, A SECOND INLET DUCT DEFINING A CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF PASSAGEWEAY RADIALLY INWARD FOR INTRODUCING A SECOND FLUID THROUGH SAID MATRIX FROM SAID FIRST COMPARTMENT, A SECOND OUTLET DUCT DEFINING A CROSS SECTIONAL AREA OF PASSAGEWAY RADIALLY OUTWARD FOR REMOVING SAID SECOND FLUID THROUGH SAID MATRIX FROM SAID SECOND COMPARTMENT, AND MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY ROTATING SAID MATRIX ABOUT SAID SUPPORTING SHAFT SO THAT SAID MATRIX PASSES FROM THE INLET OF ONE FLUID TO THE OUTLET OF THE OTHER FLUID.