External rigid fuel manifold
AssigneePratt & Whitney Canada Corp.
InventorsBhawan B. PATEL, Oleg MORENKO
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel manifold of a gas turbine engine includes a tube assembly having substantially rigid inner tubes disposed inside of substantially rigid outer tubes in pairs, concentrically spaced apart by a spacer apparatus. The inner tubes form a primary fuel passage for directing a primary fuel flow and the outer tubes form a secondary fuel passage for directing a secondary fuel flow, the secondary flow being greater than the primary flow.
Claims16
A gas turbine engine comprising
- an external engine case;
- a fuel source;
- a combustor having an array of fuel nozzles including at least one starter nozzle, the at least one starter nozzle being less than half of the fuel nozzles of the array;
- and
- a manifold communicating between the fuel source and the fuel nozzle array, the manifold being mounted circumferentially around the external engine case and having a tube assembly including a plurality of metal inner and outer tube pairs, an inner tube being disposed inside an outer tube and concentrically spaced apart from the outer tube by a spacer apparatus between the inner and outer tubes, the inner tube being rigid and in fluid communication with said at least one starter fuel nozzle for directing a primary fuel flow to said at least one starter fuel nozzle, the outer tube being rigid and in fluid communication with a remainder of the fuel nozzles of the array of fuel nozzles for directing a secondary fuel flow to said remainder of the fuel nozzles, the secondary fuel flow being greater than the primary fuel flow.
A gas turbine engine having a manifold comprising a tube assembly of a plurality of hardwall inner and outer tube pairs, an inner tube being and disposed inside an outer tube in each pair and being concentrically spaced apart from the outer tube by a spacer apparatus radially between the tubes, the plurality of pairs of tubes extending between and being connected by a plurality of base connectors, the base connectors mounted to an external side of a casing of the engine, the tube assembly communicating with an array of fuel nozzles via the base connectors, the length of the tube assembly between base connectors being greater than the absolute distance between base connectors such that the tube assembly is non-linear between adjacent base connectors, the inner tubes forming a first fuel passage for directing a primary fuel flow from a fuel source to at least one fuel nozzle of the array, the at least one fuel nozzle being less than half of the fuel nozzles of the array, the outer tubes forming a second fuel passage for directing a secondary fuel flow from the fuel source to the remaining fuel nozzles of the array, the secondary flow being larger than the primary flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.