Gas turbine engine
OwnerKyle Jianginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gas turbine engine (1) has a centrifugal compressor (4) and a radial turbine (14) mounted to a turbine shaft (2) for rotation with the shaft about the shaft axis Z. A number of combustion chambers (10) in the air/gas flow path between the compressor and the turbine are spaced circumferentially about the shaft axis. The combustion chambers (10) are elongate in the direction of air/gas flow and the longitudinal axis of each combustion chamber is skewed transversely relative to the axis Z of the turbine shaft. The combustion chambers (10) may be curved longitudinally about the shaft axis and may be aligned concentric about the axis. The engine may have a recuperator (8) radially outboard the compressor, the recuperator having radially directed flow passages through which air from the compressor is directed.
Claims19
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- an inlet end and an exhaust end opposite said inlet end;
- a turbine shaft rotatable about an axis, the turbine shaft extending longitudinally between the inlet end and the exhaust end;
- a centrifugal compressor mounted to the turbine shaft toward the inlet end and rotatable with the turbine shaft about the axis of the turbine shaft;
- a radial turbine mounted to the turbine shaft toward the exhaust end and rotatable with the turbine shaft about the axis of the turbine shaft;
- a plurality of combustion chambers spaced circumferentially about the axis of the turbine shaft axially between the centrifugal compressor and the radial turbine;
- and
- a circumferentially extending air flow buffer channel between the centrifugal compressor and the plurality of combustion chambers, the air flow buffer channel comprising a plurality of sectors, each sector of the plurality of sectors fluidly connected with a respective combustion chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers,
- wherein an output of the centrifugal compressor enters each sector of the plurality of sectors and flows circumferentially around each sector of the plurality of sectors and into the respective combustion chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers,
- a respective output of each combustion chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers is directed onto the radial turbine, and
- an output of the radial turbine is directed toward the inlet end of the gas turbine engine.
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- an inlet end and an exhaust end opposite said inlet end;
- a turbine shaft rotatable about an axis, the turbine shaft extending longitudinally between the inlet end and the exhaust end;
- a centrifugal compressor and a radial turbine each mounted to the turbine shaft for rotation with the turbine shaft about the axis of the turbine shaft, the centrifugal compressor mounted to the turbine shaft toward the inlet end and the radial turbine mounted to the turbine shaft toward the exhaust end;
- an annular recuperator circumferentially surrounding the centrifugal compressor and
- at least one combustion chamber in a gas flow path between the annular recuperator and the radial turbine, the at least one combustion chamber located axially between the centrifugal compressor and the radial turbine,
- exhaust gas from the at least one combustion chamber is directed onto the radial turbine, and the exhaust gas of the radial turbine is directed toward the inlet end of the gas turbine engine and to the annular recuperator,
- wherein the annular recuperator comprises:
- a first set of flow passages which receive compressed air from the centrifugal compressor, the first set of flow passages extending in a radial direction relative to the axis of the turbine shaft;
- and
- a second set of flow passages interleaved between the first flow passages, the second set of flow passages being fluidly connected with the radial turbine to receive the exhaust gas from the radial turbine, the second set of flow passages extending in the radial direction relative to the axis of the turbine shaft,
- wherein, the compressed air flows in a radially outward direction through the first set of flow passages and the exhaust gas flows in a radially inward direction through the second set of flow passages.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.