Patent ID: 7065873

Claim:
A recuperator assembly, comprising: a plurality of involute curved recuperator core segments, each recuperator core segment comprising: first and second heat exchanger foils disposed in opposition so as to define an internal air passage, said internal air passage providing fluid communication between a recuperator core segment inlet and a recuperator core segment outlet, said recuperator core segment inlet and recuperator core segment outlet disposed between said heat exchanger foils along a radially inner edge, each heat exchanger foil having: an integrally formed offset peripheral mating flange, the flanges of the first and second heat exchanger foils being mated together; and an exterior heat exchange surface having a primary surface zone including exterior corrugations, said exterior corrugations having a generally uniform height above said peripheral mating flange, said height being a profile height; and first and a second stiffener support spacer bars engaging a portion of said peripheral mating flanges of said first and second heat exchanger foils along said inner edge, respectively, the peripheral mating flanges being sandwiched between the stiffener support spacer bars, wherein, said first stiffener support spacer bar has a height being a first indexing height and said second stiffener support spacer bar has a height being a second indexing height, said first indexing height being less than the profile height of said first heat exchanger foil, and said second indexing height being greater than the profile height of said second heat exchanger foil, wherein, the exterior heat exchange surface of one of said first and second heat exchanger foils is convexly curved and the exterior heat exchange surface of the other of said first and second heat exchanger foils is concavely curved, and wherein, at least a pair of said plurality of recuperator core segments are adjacently stacked in a nested configuration so as to form at least one recuperator core sector.