Regenerative heat exchangers

Claim 1

A REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGE DEVICE HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY CYLINDRICAL UNITARY ROTOR ASSEMBLY ROTATABLE ABOUT ITS LONGITUDINAL AXIS, SUBSTANTIALLY IMPERFORATE RADIAL PARTITIONS EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY THROUGHOUT THE LENGTH OF SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY AND ROTATABLE THEREWITH, SAID PARTITIONS BEING ARRANGED TO DIVIDE SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY INTO A CIRCUMFERENTIAL SERIES OF SECTOR SHAPED COMPARTMENTS EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY THE FULL RADIAL DIMENSION OF SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY, WALLS DEFINING A STATIONARY HOUSING SURROUNDING THE ROTOR ASSEMBLY, SEALING MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID HOUSING ARRANGED IN THE SPACES BETWEEN OPPOSITE SIDES OF ENDS OF SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY AND THE ADJACENT WALLS OF SAID HOUSING AND SEPARATING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED OPENINGS FOR THE FLOW OF A HEATING GAS AND A GAS TO BE HEATED THROUGH SEPARATE GROUPS OF THE ROTOR COMPARTMENTS, MEANS FOR MOUNTING AXIALLY SPACED MASSES OF HEAT TRANSFER ELEMENTS IN SAID ROTOR COMPARTMENTS AND EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY THROUGHOUT THE RADIAL DIMENSION OF SAID SECTOR SHAPED COMPARTMENTS, SAID AXIALLY SPACED MASSES DEFINING PERFORATE SIDES OF A PAIR OF GAS FLOW CHAMBERS THEREBETWEEN AT OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY, SAID CHAMBERS BEING SEPARATED BY SUCCESSIVE RADIAL PARTITIONS COOPERATING WITH SAID SEALING MEANS DURING ROTATION OF SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY TO MINIMIZE GAS FLOW BETWEEN SAID CHAMBERS, MEANS FOR CONDUCTING ONE OF SAID GASES INITIALLY RADIALLY INWARDLY THROUGH ONE OF SAID CHAMBERS BETWEEN ADJACENT MASSES OF HEAT TRANSFER ELEMENTS AND THENCE IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AXIALLY OF SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY THROUGH CERTAIN COMPARTMENTS OF THE SPACED MASSES OF HEAT TRANSFER ELEMETS AND THENCE RADIALLY OUTWARDLY OF SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY, AND MEANS FOR CONDUCTING THE SECOND GAS INWARDLY OF SAID ROTOR ASSEMBLY AND THENCE INITIALLY IN OPPOSITE AXIAL DIRECTIONS THROUGH OTHER COMPARTMENTS OF THE SPACED MASSES OF HEAT TRANSFER ELEMETS AND THENCE RADIALLY OUTWARDLY IN A COMBINED STREAM THROUGH THE SECOND OF SAID CHAMBERS.