Gas turbine combustor dome with integrated flare swirler
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsPerumallu Vukanti, Pradeep Naik, Sripathi Mohan, Karthikeyan Sampath, Steven C. Vise, Shai Birmaher, Saket Singh
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Abstract
A swirler assembly includes a swirler having a primary swirler and a secondary swirler, and a flare connected the secondary swirler, and a dome disposed radially outward of the flare. A flare oxidizer flow passage is defined by a flare outer surface and a dome inner surface, and the flare oxidizer flow passage includes a swirl inducing member therewithin that induces a swirled flow of an oxidizer passing through the flare oxidizer flow passage into a combustion chamber.
Claims20
A swirler assembly for a gas turbine engine, the swirler assembly defining a swirler assembly centerline therethrough, a longitudinal direction along the swirler assembly centerline, a radial direction extending outward from the swirler assembly centerline, and a circumferential direction about the swirler assembly centerline, the swirler assembly comprising:
- a swirler having a primary swirler and a secondary swirler, the secondary swirler being disposed longitudinally downstream of the primary swirler along the swirler assembly centerline;
- a flare connected to a downstream end of the secondary swirler, the flare including (i) a flare axial wall extending circumferentially about the swirler assembly centerline and extending in the longitudinal direction, the flare axial wall having a flare axial wall outer surface, and (ii) a flare conical wall connected at a downstream end of the flare axial wall and extending circumferentially about the swirler assembly centerline, and extending radially outward and longitudinally downstream from the downstream end of the flare axial wall, the flare conical wall having a flare conical wall outer surface, wherein the flare axial wall outer surface and the flare conical wall outer surface define a flare outer surface;
- and
- a dome disposed radially outward of the flare, the dome including (i) a dome axial wall extending circumferentially about the swirler assembly centerline and extending in the longitudinal direction, the dome axial wall having a dome axial wall inner surface, (ii) a dome conical wall connected at a downstream end of the dome axial wall and extending circumferentially about the swirler assembly centerline, and extending radially outward and longitudinally downstream from the downstream end of the dome axial wall, and (iii) a dome radial wall extending radially outward from a downstream end of the dome conical wall, the dome conical wall having a dome conical wall inner surface, wherein the dome axial wall inner surface and the dome conical wall inner surface define a dome inner surface,
- wherein a flare oxidizer flow passage is defined by the flare outer surface and the dome inner surface, and
- wherein the flare oxidizer flow passage includes a swirl inducing member therewithin that induces a swirled flow of an oxidizer passing through the flare oxidizer flow passage into a combustion chamber.
A method of operating a combustor of a gas turbine, the combustor comprising (i) a swirler assembly including (a) a primary swirler, (b) a secondary swirler, (c) a flare connected to the secondary swirler, the flare including a flare conical wall extending radially outward and in a downstream direction, and having a flare conical wall outer surface, (d) a dome disposed radially outward of the flare, the dome including a dome wall having a dome wall inner surface, and (e) an oxidizer flow passage arranged circumferentially between the flare and the dome, wherein a swirl inducing member is disposed within the oxidizer flow passage between the flare conical wall outer surface and the dome wall inner surface, (ii) a combustor liner including an outer liner and an inner liner, the outer liner and the inner liner defining a combustion chamber therebetween, and (iii) a fuel nozzle disposed in the swirler assembly, the method comprising:
- causing an oxidizer to flow through the primary swirler and injecting a fuel from the fuel nozzle into the primary swirler to generate a swirled primary fuel-oxidizer mixture;
- causing an oxidizer to flow through the secondary swirler and mixing the oxidizer from the secondary swirler with the swirled primary fuel-oxidizer mixture to generate a swirled secondary fuel-oxidizer mixture;
- causing the swirled secondary fuel-oxidizer mixture to flow from the flare into the combustion chamber;
- causing an oxidizer to flow through the oxidizer flow passage between the flare and the dome;
- inducing, by the swirl inducing member, a swirled flow of the oxidizer flowing through the oxidizer flow passage to generate a swirled oxidizer flow into the combustion chamber;
- and
- igniting the swirled secondary fuel-oxidizer mixture in the combustion chamber to generate combustion product gases.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.