Gaseous fuel leakage from fuel system manifold to engine
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsThomas Dillon, Todd Miller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There are describes methods and systems for operating an engine coupled to a fuel system having a fuel manifold configured to supply fuel to a combustor of the engine. The method comprises receiving a gaseous fuel flow request indicative of a change in demand for gaseous fuel to the engine; applying a fuel loss bias to the gaseous fuel flow request to obtain a biased fuel flow request, the fuel loss bias associated with a change in mass flow rate of the gaseous fuel from the fuel manifold to the combustor in response to the change in demand; and causing the gaseous fuel to flow into the combustor in accordance with the biased fuel flow request.
Claims14
A method for operating an engine coupled to a fuel system having a fuel manifold configured to supply fuel to a combustor of the engine, the method comprising:
- receiving a gaseous fuel flow request indicative of a change in demand for gaseous fuel to the engine;
- measuring, via a pressure sensor, a pressure at a location between an input of the fuel manifold and an output of the combustor;
- observing a change in the pressure at the location between the input of the fuel manifold and the output of the combustor, the change in the pressure associated with a change in mass flow rate of the gaseous fuel from the fuel manifold to the combustor in response to the change in demand;
- applying a fuel loss bias to the gaseous fuel flow request to obtain a biased fuel flow request, the fuel loss bias associated with the change in pressure;
- and
- compensating for a change in a fuel leakage flow from the manifold into the combustor, the change in the fuel leakage flow being caused by the change in mass flow rate, the compensating for the change in the fuel leakage flow comprising causing the gaseous fuel to flow into the combustor in accordance with the biased fuel flow request.
A system for operating an engine coupled to a fuel system, the fuel system having a fuel manifold configured to supply fuel to a combustor of the engine, the system comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by the processor for:
- receiving a gaseous fuel flow request indicative of a change in demand for gaseous fuel to the engine;
- receiving, via a pressure sensor, a measured pressure at a location between an input of the fuel manifold and an output of the combustor;
- observing a change in the measured pressure at the location between the input of the fuel manifold and the output of the combustor, the change in the measured pressure associated with a change in mass flow rate of the gaseous fuel from the fuel manifold to the combustor in response to the change in demand;
- applying a fuel loss bias to the gaseous fuel flow request to obtain a biased fuel flow request, the fuel loss bias associated with the change in the measured pressure;
- and
- compensating for a change in a fuel leakage flow from the manifold into the combustor, the change in the fuel leakage flow being caused by the change in mass flow rate, the compensating for the change in the fuel leakage flow comprising causing the gaseous fuel to flow into the combustor in accordance with the biased fuel flow request.
A system comprising:
- an engine having a combustor;
- a fuel system coupled to the engine, the fuel system comprising an arrangement of components connected between a gaseous fuel supply and a fuel manifold fluidly connected to the combustor via at least one set of nozzles;
- and
- a controller coupled to the engine and the fuel system, the controller configured for:
- receiving via a pressure sensor, a measured pressure at a location between an input of the fuel manifold and an output of the combustor;
- observing a change in the measured pressure at the location between the input of the fuel manifold and the output of the combustor, the change in the measured pressure associated with a change in mass flow rate of the gaseous fuel from the fuel manifold to the combustor in response to the change demand;
- applying a fuel loss bias to a gaseous fuel flow request to obtain a biased fuel flow request, the fuel loss bias associated with the change in the measured pressure;
- and
- compensating for a change in a fuel leakage flow from the manifold into the combustor, the change in the fuel leakage flow being caused by the change in mass flow rate, the compensating for the change in the fuel leakage flow comprising causing the gaseous fuel to flow into the combustor in accordance with the biased fuel flow request.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.