Centrifugal water molecular separation
AssigneeRtx Corporation
InventorsNeil J. Terwilliger, Andressa L. Johnson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An aircraft propulsion system includes a condenser at least partially disposed within the core flow path where water is extracted from the exhaust gas flow, an evaporator system that is at least partially disposed within the core flow path upstream of the condenser where thermal energy from the exhaust gas flow is utilized to generate a steam flow from at least a portion of water that is extracted by the condenser. Steam within the exhaust gas flow is concentrated into a portion of the exhaust gas flow that is communicated through the condenser.
Claims19
An aircraft propulsion system comprising:
- a compressor section where an inlet airflow is compressed;
- a combustor section where the compressed inlet airflow is mixed with fuel and ignited to generate an exhaust gas flow that is communicated through a core flow path;
- a turbine section through which the exhaust gas flow expands to generate a mechanical power output;
- a condenser at least partially disposed within the core flow path where water is extracted from the exhaust gas flow;
- an evaporator system at least partially disposed within the core flow path upstream of the condenser where thermal energy from the exhaust gas flow is utilized to generate a steam flow from at least a portion of water extracted by the condenser for injection into a core flow path;
- and
- a core exhaust gas separator where the exhaust gas flow is separated into a first exhaust gas flow and a second exhaust gas flow, wherein the second exhaust gas flow contains a higher concentration of steam than the first exhaust gas flow and only the second exhaust gas flow is communicated to the condenser.
A steam generation system for a turbine engine assembly, the water extraction system comprising:
- a core exhaust gas separator where an exhaust gas flow is separated into a first exhaust gas flow and a second exhaust gas flow, wherein the second exhaust gas flow contains more water than the first exhaust gas flow, wherein the core exhaust gas separator is configured to utilize a radially directed flow to separate components of the exhaust gas flow by molecular weight;
- a condenser configured to receive and extract water from only the second exhaust gas flow;
- and
- an evaporator system where thermal energy from the exhaust gas flow is utilized to generate a steam flow from at least a portion of water extracted by the condenser for injection into a core flow path of a turbine engine.
A method of generating steam for injection into a core flow path of a turbine engine, the method comprising:
- separating an exhaust gas flow into a first exhaust gas flow and a second exhaust gas flow, wherein the second exhaust gas flow contains more water than the first exhaust gas flow and is of a smaller flow volume than the first exhaust gas flow;
- cooling only the second exhaust gas flow to condense water into a liquid form;
- and
- extracting liquid water from only the second exhaust gas flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.