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US 12,577,907 B2Granted
Inter-turbine burner in recuperation cycle engine
AssigneeRtx Corporation
InventorsJoseph B. Staubach, Joseph E. Turney, Neil J. Terwilliger
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A turbine engine assembly an inter-turbine burner that is disposed between at least two of a plurality of turbine stages where an additional amount of fuel is mixed with an exhaust gas flow to generate a reheated gas flow. A condenser extracts water from the reheated gas flow and an evaporator system generates a steam flow from at least a portion of water that is extracted by the condenser for injection into the core airflow.
Claims19
A turbine engine assembly comprising:
- a compressor section where a core airflow is compressed;
- a combustor section where the compressed core airflow from the compressor section is mixed with fuel and ignited to generate an exhaust gas flow;
- a turbine section including at least two turbine stages through which the exhaust gas flow expands to generate a mechanical power output;
- an inter-turbine burner disposed between the at least two turbine stages, wherein in the inter-turbine burner an additional amount of fuel is mixed with the exhaust gas flow to generate a reheated gas flow;
- a condenser where water is extracted from the reheated gas flow exhausted from the turbine section;
- and
- an evaporator system disposed between a first turbine stage of the at least two turbine stages and the condenser, the evaporator system configured for generating a steam flow from at least a portion of water extracted by the condenser for injection into the core airflow, wherein the evaporator system includes a first evaporator separated from a second evaporator, wherein each of the first evaporator and the second evaporator transfer heat from the reheated gas flow into the extracted water.
4 more elements
A method of operating a turbine engine comprising:
- compressing a core airflow in a compressor section to generate a compressed core airflow;
- generating an exhaust gas flow by igniting a mixture of the compressed core airflow and fuel within a combustor section;
- generating a power output by expanding the exhaust gas flow through at least one of a plurality of turbine stages;
- generating a reheated exhaust gas flow by igniting a mixture of exhaust gases from a first turbine stage of the plurality of turbine stages and fuel within an inter-turbine burner;
- generating an additional power output by expanding the reheated gas flow through another a second turbine stage of the plurality of turbine stages;
- extracting water from the reheated exhaust gas flow in a condenser;
- generating a first steam flow by heating a first portion of the extracted water in a first evaporator that is disposed between the first turbine stage and the condenser;
- generating a second steam flow by heating a second portion of the extracted water in a second evaporator disposed between at least two of the plurality of turbine stages and separated from the first evaporator;
- and
- injecting at least one of the first steam flow and the second steam flow into the core flow.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.