Patent ID: 8181695

Claim:
A reinforcing element for a dish plate heat exchanger, the heat exchanger having a mounting plate and a plurality of nested dish plates mounted thereon, the dish plates having inclined, peripheral, overlapping walls, the mounting plate being positioned underneath and extending beyond the outer periphery of the walls of the nested dish plates, wherein the reinforcing element comprises: an outwardly extending base flange adapted to be attached to at least a portion of the mounting plate that extends beyond the outer periphery of the walls of the nested dish plates, the base flange adapted to be positioned on the mounting plate proximal to and also adapted to generally surround a lowermost one of the plurality of nested dish plates; and a peripheral flange extending generally upwardly from the base flange, the peripheral flange being adapted to be in parallel, overlapping contact with the inclined peripheral wall of at least the lowermost dish plate attached to the mounting plate, and wherein the reinforcing element having an opening permitting a bottom wall of the lowermost dish plate to directly contact the mounting plate.