Gas turbine regenerator

Claim 1

IN A ROTARY COUNTER FLOW REGENERATOR FOR A GAS TURBINE ENGINE, A DISC-TYPE MATRIX ROTATABLE ABOUT A CENTRAL AXIS AND COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF GAS PASSAGES EXTENDING PARALLEL TO SAID AXIS AND ARRANGED SIDE-BY-SIDE IN LAYERS EXTENDING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY AROUND SAID AXIS, SAID GAS PASSAGES IN CROSS SECTION TRANSVERSE TO SAID AXIS BEING ELONGATED RADIALLY OF SAID AXIS AND BEING DEFINED BY SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED LONG THIN SIDEWALLS AND RADIALLY SPACED SHORT END WALLS, THE END WALLS OF THE GAS PASSAGES OF EACH LAYER ABUTTING THE END WALLS OF THE GAS PASSAGES IN THE RADIALLY ADJACENT LAYERS, MEANS HAVING A RADIAL DIMENSION OF THE ORDER OF MAGNITUDE OF THE THICKNESS OF SAID LONG THIN SIDEWALLS CONNECTING THE ABUTTING END WALLS TO COMPRISE RIGID BEAMS FOR TRANSMITTING THE RADIAL FORCES IN THE LONG SIDEWALLS OF EACH LAYER OF GAS PASSAGES TO THE LONG SIDEWALLS OF THE GAS PASSAGES IN THE RADIALLY ADJACENT LAYERS OF GAS PASSAGES, SAID LONG SIDEWALLS BEING MORE THAN THREE TIMES AS LONG AS THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL SPACING THEREBETWEEN AND THE LATTER SPACING BEING NOT MORE THAN A FEW HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH.