Patent ID: 7033544

Claim:
A regenerative thermal oxidizer, comprising: at least first and second regenerator columns, each of said columns comprising heat exchange media; gas inlet means and gas outlet means in communication with each of said regenerator columns; a combustion zone in communication with each of said regenerator columns; valve means for alternately directing said gas into the gas inlet means of one of said columns in a first direction and through another of said columns in a second direction; a plurality of temperature sensing means for detecting temperature of said gas in a plurality of predetermined locations in each of said columns; thermal energy calculating means for calculating a first value indicative of the stored thermal energy in the heat exchange media in said first regenerative column and a second value indicative of the stored thermal energy in the heat exchange media in said second regenerative column; determining means for determining the difference between said first and second values; comparison means for comparing said difference to a predetermined value; and switching means responsive to said comparison means for controlling the timing of valve means.