Flexible seal for a rotary regenerative preheater

1. A seal assembly for a rotary preheater, the seal assembly comprising:

at least one leaf having a base section, the base section defining a fastening area for securing the at least one leaf to a diaphragm of the preheater, the at least one leaf having an elongate section extending away from the base section and terminating at a distal end thereof; and

at least one wear resistant member being secured to the at least one leaf proximate the distal end thereof,

wherein each of the at least one wear resistant members comprises a plurality of elongate strips, each of the plurality of elongate strips comprising a bend having a wear resistant material applied thereto.

2. The seal assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of elongate strips comprises a mounting leg and a terminal leg, wherein the bend extends between the mounting leg and the terminal leg at a non-zero angle.

3. The seal assembly of claim 2 , wherein the non-zero angle is less than 90°.

4. The seal assembly of claim 2 , wherein the non-zero angle is 90° or greater.

5. The seal assembly of claim 2 , wherein the mounting leg comprises at least one hole extending through the mounting leg.

6. The seal assembly of claim 5 , further comprising a plurality of fastening structures, wherein one of the plurality of fastening structures extends through the hole to the fastening area of the at least one leaf, thereby securing the mounting leg to the at least one leaf.

7. The seal assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a wear resistant material applied to at least a portion of the bend.

8. The seal assembly of claim 7 , wherein the wear resistant material is applied from a first end of the bend to a second end of the bend.

9. The seal assembly of claim 8 , wherein an outer surface of the wear resistant material slidingly engages a surface of a sector plate during reduced or zero load operation.

10. The seal assembly of claim 8 , wherein an outer surface of the wear resistant material is spaced apart from a surface of a sector plate by a gap.

11. The seal assembly of claim 7 , wherein the wear resistant material is selected from the group consisting of: a powder coating, a hardfacing weldment, a replacement wear strip adhered to the bend, a composite structure, and a case hardened area.

12. The seal assembly of claim 11 , wherein the composite structure comprises at least one fabric layer impregnated with wear resistant particles.

13. The seal assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of elongate strips is manufactured from a steel alloy.

14. A method of securing at least one wear resistant member to a seal assembly according to claim 1 , the method comprising:

positioning a wear resistant member adjacent to at least one leaf of the seal assembly;

extending at least one hole through the wear resistant member;

positioning a fastening area on the adjacent at least one leaf; and

inserting a fastening structure through each of the at least one hole through the wear resistant member to the fastening area of the adjacent at least one leaf, thereby securing the at least one wear resistant member to the seal assembly.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the fastening structure is selected from the group consisting of rivets or spot welds.

16. A preheater assembly comprising:

a rotor assembly rotatably mounted on a rotor post and disposed in a housing, the rotor assembly defining diaphragms extending radially from the rotor post to an outer periphery of the rotor assembly, adjacent pairs of the diaphragms defining respective compartments for receiving a heat transfer assembly, each of the heat transfer assemblies including a plurality of heat transfer sheets stacked upon one another, the housing including a flue gas inlet duct and a flue gas outlet duct for channeling the flow of heated flue gases through the preheater, the housing including an air inlet duct and an air outlet duct for channeling the flow of combustion air through the preheater, the preheater including an upper sector plate extending across the housing adjacent to an upper face of the rotor assembly and a lower sector plate extending across the housing adjacent to lower face of the rotor assembly, the upper sector plate extends between and is joined to the flue gas inlet duct and the air outlet duct, the lower sector plate extends between and is joined to the flue gas outlet duct and the air inlet duct, the upper and lower sector plates, respectively, are joined to one another by a circumferential plate;

at least one of the upper sector plate and the lower sector plate defining a leading edge and a trailing edge, and wherein at least one of the leading edge and the trailing edge defines a ramped configuration; and

the seal assembly of claim 1 being positioned on an axial edge of each diaphragm; and

wherein a portion of the seal assembly engages the leading edge and disengages the trailing edge.