Back to results
US 11,719,158 B2Granted
Low emissions combustor assembly for gas turbine engine
AssigneeRaytheon Technologies Corporation
InventorsZhongtao Dai, Lance L. Smith, Jeffrey M. Cohen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A combustor assembly for a gas turbine engine according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a combustion chamber, and a fuel injector assembly in communication with the combustion chamber that has a swirler body situated about a nozzle to define an injector passage that converges to a throat. The throat is defined at a distance from the combustion chamber. The nozzle includes a primary fuel injector and an array of secondary plain jet fuel injectors.
Claims19
A combustor assembly for a gas turbine engine comprising:
- a combustion chamber;
- and
- a fuel injector assembly in communication with the combustion chamber, the fuel injector assembly comprising:
- a nozzle including a nozzle body, a primary fuel injector along a nozzle longitudinal axis, and an array of secondary plain jet fuel injectors axially forward of the primary fuel injector relative to the nozzle longitudinal axis;
- and
- a swirler body situated about the nozzle to define an injector passage that converges to a throat, the throat defined at a distance from the combustion chamber relative to the nozzle longitudinal axis;
- wherein the nozzle body extends along the nozzle longitudinal axis between a first end portion and a second end portion, a periphery of nozzle body along the second end portion is established by an annular wall that tapers inwardly to a terminal end of the nozzle body, and the nozzle longitudinal axis extends through a primary outlet of the primary fuel injector along the second end portion;
- wherein the injector passage includes a first passage section merging into a second passage section, the first passage section is an inward sloping annulus defined between the swirler body and the nozzle, the second passage section interconnects the first passage section and the combustion chamber, and the second passage section defines the throat;
- wherein the periphery of the second end portion defines a radially inner wall of the first passage section, and the radially inner wall opposes a radially outer wall of the first passage section established by the swirler body;
- wherein outlets of the secondary plain jet fuel injectors are circumferentially distributed about the annular wall along the first passage section such that the outlets are spaced apart from the terminal end of the nozzle body relative to the nozzle longitudinal axis, and each of the secondary plain jet fuel injectors defines a second fuel injector axis extending through the respective outlet such that a projection of the second fuel injector axis intersects the radially outer wall of the injector passage along the first passage section;
- and
- wherein the radially inner wall tapers into an axial face that establishes the terminal end of the nozzle body, and the primary outlet of the primary fuel injector is established along the axial face.
9 more elements
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- a fan section including a plurality of fan blades rotatable about an engine axis;
- a compressor section in fluid communication with the fan section;
- a turbine section driving the fan section;
- and
- a combustor section in fluid communication with the compressor section and the turbine section, the combustor section comprising:
- a combustion chamber extending from a bulkhead;
- a fuel injector assembly along the bulkhead, the fuel injector assembly including a nozzle and a swirler body, the nozzle including a nozzle body extending along a nozzle longitudinal axis between a first end portion and a second end portion, the nozzle including a primary fuel injector along the nozzle longitudinal axis and an array of secondary plain-jet fuel injectors arranged about a periphery of the nozzle body, the nozzle longitudinal axis extending through a primary outlet of the primary fuel injector along the second end portion, and the swirler body situated about the nozzle body to define an injector passage that converges to a throat such that flow through the injector passage accelerates towards the throat;
- wherein the injector passage includes a first passage section merging into a second passage section, the first passage section defined between the swirler body and the nozzle, the second passage section defining the throat, a radially outer wall of the first passage section slopes toward the nozzle longitudinal axis, and a radially inner wall of the first passage section along the nozzle body slopes toward the nozzle longitudinal axis;
- wherein outlets of the secondary plain jet fuel injectors are circumferentially distributed about a periphery of the nozzle body along the radially inner wall of the first passage section such that the outlets are spaced apart from a terminal end of the nozzle body relative to the nozzle longitudinal axis, and each secondary plain jet defines a second fuel injector axis extending through the respective outlet such that a projection of the second fuel injector axis intersects the radially outer wall of the injector passage along the first passage section;
- and
- wherein the radially inner wall tapers into an axial face that establishes the terminal end of the nozzle body, and the primary outlet of the primary fuel injector is established along the axial face.
8 more elements
A method of operating a combustor assembly for a gas turbine engine comprising:
- accelerating airflow in an injector passage from a first passage section of the injector passage toward a throat defined by a second passage section of the first passage section;
- injecting fuel into the first passage section by a primary outlet of a primary fuel injector and fuel into the second passage section by secondary outlets of an array of secondary plain jet fuel injectors to establish a single non-premixed flame during a first, different mode;
- and
- injecting fuel into the first passage section to establish a non-premixed flame and fuel into the second passage section to establish a premixed flame during a second mode;
- wherein a swirler body is situated about a nozzle to define the injector passage, the nozzle includes a nozzle body extending along a nozzle longitudinal axis between a first end portion and a second end portion, and the second end portion includes a periphery established by an annular wall that tapers inwardly to a terminal end of the nozzle body;
- wherein the secondary outlets are circumferentially distributed about the annular wall along the first passage section such that the secondary outlets are spaced apart from the terminal end of the nozzle body relative to the nozzle longitudinal axis, and each of the secondary plain jet fuel injectors defines a second fuel injector axis extending through the respective secondary outlet such that a projection of the second fuel injector axis intersects a radially outer wall of the injector passage along the first passage section;
- and
- wherein a radially inner wall of the first passage section along the nozzle body tapers into an axial face that establishes the terminal end of the nozzle body, and the primary outlet of the primary fuel injector is established along the axial face.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.