Combustor liner with shield holes
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsAnquan Wang, Eric John Ruggiero
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus, system, and method of reducing film cooling scrubbing in a combustor are provided. The apparatus includes a combustor liner that includes a field of a plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes that extend through the combustor liner wherein the field includes a boundary. The combustor liner also includes a patch of relatively more densely-spaced shield holes that extend through the combustor liner at specific predetermined locations within the boundary of the field.
Claims21
1-20. (canceled)
A combustor for a turbine engine comprising:
- a combustor liner having an inner surface defining a combustion zone;
- an annular dome mounted upstream of the combustion zone;
- a plurality of mixer assemblies spaced circumferentially around the annular dome to form a fuel-air mixture, the fuel-air mixture comprising an axial component and a circumferential component, that is provided to the combustion zone;
- a field defining an area of the combustor liner having a plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes defining a first distance between adjacent sparsely-spaced film holes;
- and
- a patch defining an area located within the field at a location where the circumferential component interacts with the combustor liner during operation, the patch having a plurality of densely-spaced shield holes defining a second distance between adjacent densely-spaced shield holes, the second distance smaller than the first distance.
The combustor of claim 1 wherein the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes are angled to form a laminar flow along the inner surface.
The combustor of claim 2 wherein the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes are oriented at an oblique angle with respect to the inner surface.
The combustor of claim 2 wherein the plurality of densely-spaced shield holes are angled at the same angle as the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes with respect to the inner surface.
The combustor of claim 2 wherein the plurality of densely-spaced shield holes are oriented at an oblique angle with respect to the inner surface.
The combustor of claim 2 wherein the plurality of densely-spaced shield holes are oriented orthogonally with respect to the inner surface.
The combustor of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes include a first cross-sectional area and the plurality of densely-spaced shield holes include a second cross-sectional area that is different than the first cross-sectional area.
The combustor of claim 7, wherein the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes comprise a diffuser exit.
The combustor of claim 8, wherein the densely-spaced shield holes comprise a circular cross-section.
A combustor liner comprising:
- an inner surface defining a combustion zone for receiving a fuel-air mixture comprising an axial component and a circumferential component;
- a field defining an area of the combustor liner having a plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes defining a first distance between adjacent sparsely-spaced film holes;
- and
- a patch defining an area located within the field at a location where the circumferential component interacts with the combustor liner during operation, the patch having a plurality of densely-spaced shield holes defining a second distance between adjacent densely-spaced shield holes, the second distance smaller than the first distance.
The combustor liner of claim 10 wherein the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes are oriented at an oblique angle with respect to the inner surface.
The combustor liner of claim 11 wherein the plurality of densely-spaced shield holes are angled at the same angle as the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes with respect to the inner surface.
The combustor liner of claim 11 wherein the plurality of densely-spaced shield holes are oriented orthogonally with respect to the inner surface.
The combustor liner of claim 10, wherein the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes include a first cross-sectional area and the plurality of densely-spaced shield holes include a second cross-sectional area that is different than the first cross-sectional area.
The combustor liner of claim 14, wherein the plurality of sparsely-spaced film holes comprise a diffuser exit.
The combustor liner of claim 15, wherein the densely-spaced shield holes comprise a circular cross-section.
A method of reducing an interaction of a fuel-air mixture with a cooling film in a combustor having a combustor liner at least partially defining a combustion zone, the method comprising:
- flowing a cooling fluid through a set of film holes in the combustor liner;
- forming a laminar flow of the cooling fluid along an inner surface of the combustor liner;
- swirling a fuel-air mixture into the combustion zone to form an axial flow component and a circumferential flow component;
- flowing the cooling fluid through a set of shield holes extending through the combustor liner in an area on the inner surface of the combustor liner where the circumferential flow component interacts with the laminar flow;
- and
- forming a shield flow for shielding the laminar flow from the circumferential flow component.
The method of claim 17, wherein flowing the cooling fluid through a set of film holes comprises flowing the cooling fluid through sparsely-spaced film holes in the combustor liner.
The method of claim 18, wherein flowing the cooling fluid through a set of shield holes comprises flowing the cooling fluid through a patch of densely-spaced film holes relative to the sparsely-spaced film holes in the combustor liner.
The method of claim 17, further comprising changing a direction of the circumferential flow component with a momentum of the shield flow.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.