# US 12,215,870 B2 · Method of operating a gas turbine combustor comprising injecting a diluent into the primary and secondary combustion zones > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,215,870 B2 - Document ID: US12215870B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/529,360 - Filed: 2023-12-05 - Published: 2024-03-28 - Granted: 2025-02-04 - Earliest claimed: 2021-06-24 - Assignees: General Electric Company - Applicants: General Electric Company - Inventors: Manampathy G. Giridharan; Pradeep Naik - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12215870B2 ## CPC - F23R 3/346: {for staged combustion} - F02C 3/20: using a special fuel, oxidant, or dilution fluid to generate the combustion products - F02C 3/30: Adding water, steam or other fluids {for influencing combustion, e.g. to obtain cleaner exhaust gases (F02C7/141, F02C7/30, F01D21/00, F01K21/04, F23D11/10 take precedence)} - F23R 3/34: Feeding into different combustion zones - F23R 3/36: Supply of different fuels - F23R 3/002: {Wall structures (F23R3/02 and F23R3/007 take precedence)} - F23R 3/286: {having fuel-air premixing devices (F23R3/30 takes precedence)} - F23R 2900/00002: Gas turbine combustors adapted for fuels having low heating value [LHV] - F23R: GENERATING COMBUSTION PRODUCTS OF HIGH PRESSURE OR HIGH VELOCITY, e.g. GAS-TURBINE COMBUSTION CHAMBERS (fluidised bed combustion apparatus specially adapted for operation at superatmospheric pressures F23C10/16) - F02C: GAS-TURBINE PLANTS; AIR INTAKES FOR JET-PROPULSION PLANTS; CONTROLLING FUEL SUPPLY IN AIR-BREATHING JET-PROPULSION PLANTS (construction of turbines F01D; jet-propulsion plants F02K; construction of compressors or fans F04; generating combustion products of high pressure or high velocity F23R; using gas turbines in compression refrigeration plants F25B11/00) ## Abstract A gas turbine engine including a compressor section, a combustor for combusting a fuel, and a turbine. Compressed air flows through a combustion liner of the combustor in a bulk airflow direction. The combustor includes a primary fuel nozzle and a secondary fuel nozzle. The secondary fuel nozzle is downstream of the primary fuel nozzle in the bulk airflow direction. The primary fuel nozzle is configured to inject a primary portion of the fuel into a primary combustion zone, and the secondary fuel nozzle is configured to inject a secondary portion of the fuel into a secondary combustion zone. The secondary combustion zone is located downstream of the primary combustion zone in the bulk airflow direction. The fuel may be one of diatomic hydrogen fuel and a hydrogen enriched fuel. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of operating a gas turbine engine, the method comprising: flowing compressed air through a combustion chamber of a combustor in a bulk airflow direction from a forward end of the combustion chamber to an outlet of the combustion chamber; injecting a primary portion of a fuel into a primary combustion zone at the forward end of the combustion chamber using a primary fuel nozzle; injecting a primary portion of a diluent into the primary combustion zone at the forward end of the combustion chamber; injecting a secondary portion of the fuel into a secondary combustion zone of the combustion chamber using a secondary fuel nozzle, the secondary combustion zone being located downstream of the primary combustion zone in the bulk airflow direction; and injecting a secondary portion of the diluent into the combustion chamber, wherein the primary portion of the diluent being from twenty percent to eighty percent of the diluent injected into the combustion chamber over a time interval, and the secondary portion of the diluent is the remaining portion of the diluent injected into the combustion chamber over the time interval. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the diluent is at least one of water, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the fuel is one of diatomic hydrogen fuel and a hydrogen enriched fuel. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the secondary portion of the diluent is injected into the combustion chamber in a direction transverse to the bulk airflow direction. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein the secondary portion of the diluent is injected into the combustion chamber at an oblique angle to the bulk airflow direction. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the primary portion of the fuel is from thirty percent to eighty percent of the fuel being injected into the combustion chamber over a time interval, and the secondary portion of the fuel is the remaining portion of the fuel injected into the combustion chamber over the time interval. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the combustor includes a segment, wherein the primary portion of the diluent and the secondary portion of the diluent are injected into the segment of the combustion chamber over the time interval, and wherein the primary portion of the fuel and the secondary portion of the fuel are injected into the segment of the combustion chamber over the time interval. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the gas turbine engine has a total engine power and the gas turbine engine may be operated at lower power conditions and higher power conditions, lower power conditions being 20% of the total engine power and below and higher power conditions being greater than 20% of the total engine power, and wherein, when the gas turbine engine is operating at a higher power condition, the secondary portion of the fuel and the secondary portion of the diluent are injected into the combustion chamber. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein, when the gas turbine engine is operating at a lower power condition, the secondary portion of the fuel and the secondary portion of the diluent are not injected into the combustion chamber. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the primary portion of the fuel is from thirty percent to eighty percent of the fuel being injected into the combustion chamber over a time interval, and the secondary portion of the fuel is the remaining portion of the fuel injected into the combustion chamber over the time interval. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the combustor includes a segment, wherein the primary portion of the diluent and the secondary portion of the diluent are injected into the segment of the combustion chamber over the time interval, and wherein the primary portion of the fuel and the secondary portion of the fuel are injected into the segment of the combustion chamber over the time interval. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the primary fuel nozzle is one of a plurality of primary fuel nozzles, the plurality of primary fuel nozzles injecting the primary portion of the fuel into the primary combustion zone, and wherein the secondary fuel nozzle is one a plurality of secondary fuel nozzles, the plurality of secondary fuel nozzles injecting the secondary portion of the fuel into the secondary combustion zone. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the primary portion of the diluent is injected into the primary combustion zone using the plurality of primary fuel nozzles. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the secondary portion of the diluent is injected into the combustion chamber using a plurality of diluent nozzles separate from the plurality of secondary fuel nozzles. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the secondary portion of the diluent is injected into the combustion chamber using the plurality of secondary fuel nozzles. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the combustor includes a segment, the primary portion of the diluent and the secondary portion of the diluent being injected into the segment of the combustion chamber over the time interval. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the primary portion of the diluent is injected into the primary combustion zone using the primary fuel nozzle. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the secondary portion of the diluent is injected into the combustion chamber using a diluent nozzle separate from the secondary fuel nozzle. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the secondary portion of the diluent is injected into the combustion chamber using the secondary fuel nozzle. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein the secondary fuel nozzle injects at least a portion of the secondary portion of the diluent into the combustion chamber towards a position behind the secondary fuel nozzle in the bulk airflow direction.