Steam injected inter-turbine burner engine
AssigneeRtx Corporation
InventorsDavid Lei Ma, Joseph B. Staubach
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A turbine engine assembly includes a turbine section including at plurality of turbine stages through which the gas flow expands to generate a mechanical power output. An inter-turbine burner between at least two of the plurality of turbine stages reheats the gas flow. A condenser extracts water from the gas flow exhausted from the turbine section, and an evaporator heats the water extracted by the condenser to generate a steam flow with the steam flow communicated to the inter-turbine burner and added to the gas flow expanded through the turbine section.
Claims14
A turbine engine assembly comprising:
- a compressor section in which an inlet airflow is compressed;
- a combustor section where compressed airflow from the compressor section is mixed with fuel and ignited to generate a gas flow;
- a turbine section including a plurality of turbine stages through which the gas flow expands to generate a mechanical power output;
- an inter-turbine burner where the gas flow between at least two of the plurality of turbine stages is reheated;
- a condenser where water is extracted from the gas flow exhausted from the turbine section;
- and
- an evaporator where water extracted by the condenser is heated to generate a steam flow with the steam flow communicated to the inter-turbine burner and added to the gas flow expanded through the turbine section.
A method of operating a turbine engine comprising:
- compressing an inlet airflow in a compressor section;
- generating a gas flow by igniting a mixture of the compressed inlet airflow and fuel within a combustor section;
- generating a power output by expanding the gas flow through a first turbine section;
- generating a reheated gas flow by igniting a mixture of exhaust gases from the first turbine section and fuel within an inter-turbine burner;
- generating an additional power output by expanding the reheated gas flow through a second turbine section;
- extracting water from the reheated exhaust gas flow in a condenser;
- generating a steam flow by heating the extracted water in an evaporator;
- and
- injecting the steam flow into the inter-turbine burner to be expanded through the second turbine section with the reheated gas flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.