Patent ID: 7604242

Claim:
A circumferentially extending brush seal segment between static and rotary components having high and low pressure regions on opposite sides of the seal comprising: a fence carried by the static component and projecting toward the rotary component; a plurality of bristles forming a bristle pack carried by the static component on a downstream side of the fence and cantilevered toward the rotary component with tips of the bristles engaging the rotary component; a pressure plate carried by the static component on a downstream side of the bristle pack; a bristle pack backing plate carried by the static component between the bristle pack and the pressure plate; and said bristle backing plate having a plurality of slots opening through an upstream face thereof and a plurality of grooves formed on a downstream face thereof, said grooves lying in communication with selected slots of said bristle backing plate to provide a substantially uniform pressure distribution along a downstream side of the bristle pack.