Patent ID: 7231958

Claim:
A seal assembly for a regenerative air preheater having a heat exchanging body that rotates in a first direction with respect to a housing and is distally spaced from the housing so as to define a gap therebetween, the seal assembly comprising: a sealing section that is positioned to at least partially span the gap between the heat exchanging body and the housing, wherein the sealing section includes a deformable biasing section that engages with at least a portion of both the housing and the heat exchanging body in a manner so as to resiliently deform in a second direction relative to the first direction during rotation; and a reinforcing member interposed between the housing and the heat exchanging body so as to cover at least a portion of the sealing section, wherein the reinforcing member is positioned with respect to the sealing section so as to reinforce the sealing section when the sealing section is deformed in the second direction, the reinforcing member constructed to apply a counter-deflection force on the sealing section in a direction substantially opposite to the second direction to limit the deformation of the sealing section and thereby inhibit damage to the sealing section as a result of the deformation during rotation, wherein the reinforcing member is positioned adjacent the sealing section so as to define a deflection gap therebetween so that the sealing section deforms the width of the deflection gap prior to engaging the reinforcing member during rotation.